


Mine, Yours & Ours

by JanaRumpandRCClara, JanaRumpandRCJawnn (JanaRumpandRCClara)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Movie Fusion, Canonical Character Death, Fluff and Angst, Kid Fic, M/M, Miscommunication, Moving In Together, Past Relationship(s), Sheriff Stilinski's Name is John, Single Parent Derek, Single Parent Stiles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-13
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-01-12 07:02:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 43,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1183293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JanaRumpandRCClara/pseuds/JanaRumpandRCClara, https://archiveofourown.org/users/JanaRumpandRCClara/pseuds/JanaRumpandRCJawnn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yours, Mine & Ours - Au</p><p>Derek and Stiles used to "date" in High School. </p><p>But as life would have it each takes a path, only to meet again  years later. Each one of them has their own kids and pasts to weight on their shoulders. </p><p>It should've been easier this time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there and welcome to this little monster(this is hella big).  
> As you may have noticed this is a movie au, and i owe nothing of the film or Teen Wolf.  
> This is just a big kidfic with a bunch of pop references.  
> Hope you like it anyway  
> And well, it may take a while for chapter 2 to show up. I'm still writing it.  
> Enjoy!

Stiles had always loved a full house, loved the noise, the smell and the mess. Loved not to be alone in an empty house, not that his father hadn’t worked hard to make sure he was cared for and loved. God, John Stilinski had always been the most amazing dad he could have asked for, even when Stiles didn't deserve it. His mom had kicked ass too, no mother would ever be like her. His parents were a great part of the reason why he'd always loved the idea of having a bunch of kids running around the house. Once upon a time, someone had asked him what he would rather have: a bank account full of money or a home full of children. He hadn’t even blinked before answering. 

That was probably why he ended up living in a not-big-enough three-bedroom house, along with seven kids and his dad. The only money coming in was from his works as an illustrator and painter, not really enough to feed three teenagers, three little ones and pay for his older son’s college tuition. He always found a way to make it through the month, though. He certainly wouldn't lose his children because of something as pathetic as money, even if that meant only sleeping three hours per night tops. 

Stiles sighed and looked to the Garfield clock on the wall, placed among the drawings of his kids and photos of the family. Almost four in the morning. He got up, turning off the work lamp and putting his drawings on his work files – the only thing his children wouldn’t ever mess with, knowing that it meant income. He stretched and faceplanted on the middle of the bed, still felling weird about it being empty. Not so much because of Heather anymore, but mostly because now Scott wanted to sleep in the ‘big boys’ room.

Stiles didn’t even finish this line of thought though, just fell back asleep like a stone. Only be woken up at 6:00h by the alarm he'd set up in his cell phone. 

“I’m gonna pop some tags  
Only got twenty dollars in my pocket  
I-I-I’m hunting, looking for a come up  
This is fucking awesome.” 

He sighed, trying to gather the strength to move so he could at least turn off the damned thing already, then sat back on his heels and stretched a bit. He had a bunch of sleepy kids to wake and help dress up for school. There was no time for five more minutes. After a deep breath, Stiles walked to the room next to his, opening the door (the open doors policy was something he kept in his place - there weren’t any locks in any of the rooms, his included, because that was what thrust was based on). 

He heard the girls moving on their beds, and Danny complaining from his. “Come on, Dad… It’s early…” 

“Sorry, kiddos. Everybody up to take a shower and breakfast.” He waited as his teenagers got up in different states of consciousness. Kira was still completely asleep as she tried to walk to the bathroom and ended up hugging Stiles. He laughed and messed her hair some more. “Wake up you must, Kira Stilinski.” 

“I know, Dad. It's just… Not excited to go to school.” 

“It will be fine. You’re amazing, kiddo. They only have to give you a chance.” He smiled, trying to be reassuring. He knew how hard it was to make friends and adapt – he'd been lonely most of his teenage years (even if Lydia was an amazing best friend, her group ignored him, which made things hard) until Derek showed up in his life, with that ridiculous bad boy look. He wondered what had happened to his ex-boyfriend sometimes, having not heard from him since he got married to that girl Paige in some big party on the Hale House ten years ago. 

“Dad! You’re distracted! Go wake the boys up!” Allison said in a laugh. Focusing again he moved on to the attic-but-now-fourth-bedroom, garden themed and as cool as he could make it. There was a constant mess of toys all around the floor, but Stiles didn’t really mind, not when he was still trying to get Aiden and Ethan to adapt into the family life (it had been a year and they still called him Mister Stilinski). 

He walked over to Scott’s bed first and lightly shook the shoulder of his nine year-old. “Scotty? Time to wake up, Future Captain America.” He smiled at the words that indeed worked. Soon those cute round eyes were wide open and Stiles went to the space between the twins' beds. 

“Rise and shine, boys. Time to leave bed.” 

They complained a bit, as always. Ethan opened his eyes first and gave a weak smile. “Good morning…” This was amazing to notice, that when Ethan was not around his twin he seemed to accept the family a lot better. However, the twins came in a duo, and if Stiles wanted – and he really did – to his family to be complete, he needed to make them both feel welcome. 

After making sure the younger ones were out of bed, he proceeded to the kitchen and begun preparing breakfast and the lunches for the kids to take to school. As his children came down the stairs, the mess started. When Stiles' phone rang the alarm for the second time, this time indicating he had to take everyone to the bus stop, he looked around and couldn’t help but to sigh. Scott was dressed as Captain America again, jumping on the couch like he was fighting Hydra minions. Aiden and Ethan were rolling on the kitchen floor for no apparent reason, like two puppies. Danny was so tired he had poured away too much milk on the cereal bowl and not even noticed. Allison was training with her volleyball on the living room, having knocked down some paintings and hurrying to get them back on place. Kira had fallen asleep face planted on the table, right into the milk that Danny had over poured. He laughed, because seriously, what else could he do? He loved this mess. 

“Alright my little aliens, everyone outside! Because the bus will be here…” he turned to face at the window and saw the bus there. “Now! Oh my god, not again!” He let his head fall back, why did Murphy and his damned law were so fond of him? 

And as most days, there was the last minute panic, everyone running and grabbing backpacks and lunch bags. Stiles had his cheeks and forehead kissed multiple times and then all his older kids were out the door. He grabbed the jeep keys and picked up the young ones – because what kind of dad would he be if he didn’t do that? 

-M- 

Derek was always awake before sun dawn, no matter what time he had gone to bed the day before. After drinking one of the protein shakes, he would do all the exercise he needed to keep in shape, all in the one hour and a half he had before his kids woke up. He never had to assist them in that, all of them knew they had to keep up with the schedule so everything would work out in their lives. 

He left his quick shower already dressed for work. This was his first day as one of the commanders of the Airborne infantry. It wouldn’t be easy, but it was mostly desk duty. And even if he no longer felt the thrill of being a soldier, the work hours were regular so he could come home for his children. He wasn’t the best dad, but he tried hard for them. Things hadn’t been easy after Paige passed away, only two years ago. She used to make him strong, had kept the family united. Now, without her, he was still trying to find a way to make everything work. 

On the way to the stairs he passed on the bedrooms to check if his kids were already up. Jackson rolled his eyes and threw a pillow at the door. “Knock before entering, Derek!” He refused to call him dad ever since he discovered he wasn’t Derek’s biological son - as if it didn’t matter that the man had raised him since he was two, or that he loved Jackson jut as much as any of the other kids; all of it ignored because he wasn’t the man that had knocked Paige up when she was nineteen. Derek sighed and left the door open, not saying anything, having learned that Jackson wouldn’t listen to him anyway, so it was useless trying to reason with him. He hoped that someday the teen would at least forgive him for not being able to save his mother. 

The next room was Erica’s and Isaac’s – they insisted on sharing one once they moved to this new house. When he opened their door, Erica just rolled her eyes from her spot sitting on bed. 

“It’s fine, dad. We’re up.” She was choosing her brother’s clothes, whilst Isaac got their backpacks done. The boy smiled to his father. 

“Good morning.” His voice was soft, and he avoided looking at people when he spoke. So different from his siblings - even if he tried to act like Erica when he was around her, he was too kind to do so. 

“Good morning to you too, Isaac.” He gave his son a small smile in return, which seemed to cheer the boy up, then turned to Erica who was now choosing her own clothes. “Don’t forget your medication.” It was a constant worry to have a daughter with epilepsy, never knowing when she could have an attack. And Derek knew how mean kids could be, he didn’t want his girl to suffer even more from it. 

“I won’t.” Now she was angry at him. He knew that all she wanted was to be ordinary, but the meds were a necessity. More than once had he explained that to her, but they always ended up with her crying and shouting that it was not fair. Derek wished there was anything he could do for her. Sighting, he moved on. 

The last room he entered was Cora’s, his youngest, who was still snoring. Derek walked over to her bed and sat there. The girl was holding her wolf plushy – Sourwolf – and smiling in her sleep. The man caressed her hair, and said as softly as possible. “Cora, sweetie, it’s time to wake up.” 

She did so and smiled sleepy at him, then whispered. “I had a good dream…” 

“What was it about?” He asked, picking her up in his arms and walking with her to the bathroom. 

“We were in a park, and everyone was happy, even Jackson. Your smile was this big. And we had wolf pets!” She exclaimed between yawns. Jackson was in the bathroom doing his hair when Derek entered. He looked down when heard Cora’s words, but of course decided to tease his sister. 

“Wolves can’t be pets, Cora. They’re predators, they would probably eat you for lunch.” 

“Don’t say that! Wolves are just misjudged because of people like you and the hunters kill the wolves!” She was clearly upset - wolves were her favorite animals in the world, attacking them was like personally offending her. Derek sighed and kissed her forehead. 

“We can’t have them as pets because wolves are happier in the wildness, right Cora?” 

She seemed appeased. “Yes, Daddy! You see, Jackson? Daddy knows best!” 

“Yeah, go on with that thought kid.” The teenager said sarcastically before leaving the room. Derek sighed and helped Cora get into the bath. “I’ll be back in ten minutes, okay?” 

She nodded firmly. Derek left and went downstairs. He was not the best cook - to be true, he could probably burn water - but he needed to get breakfast ready. Orange juice and milk on the table, dishes, bowls and cups on their places. Cereal on the table, toast being prepared on the toaster. He hadn’t missed anything. Jackson sat on his usual spot and looked up. “I need money for lunch.” 

Damn it! Lunch. Jackson and Erica needed money, but Cora and Isaac had to take lunch with them – or at least that’s what the books said, and he was not in a very good moment to disagree with the books. He threw his wallet to Jackson. “Take money for you and Erica.” 

Then he started making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the younger ones – because that’s all he could really do right now. Erica and Isaac arrived right after that and both of them sat down quietly to eat their breakfast. Derek finished everything and went upstairs, took Cora out of the shower. Helped her dry, than took her back to her room, helped her dress as she took care of her own backpack. Then walked downstairs carrying her and sat her to eat breakfast. 

“Dad, you’re not gonna pick us up at school today, right?” Erica asked when he finally managed to seat down and drink his coffee. 

“No, dear. I have to work today. Your Aunt Laura will pick you up.” 

She seemed upset and he actually believed for a few seconds that she was upset because he was not the one picking them up, that is until his daughter replied. “I thought we would stay alone at home. It sucks. Not that Aunt Laura is bad, just, I would rather stay at home alone.” 

“You’re too young for that.” He answered aiming for stern, before opening the newspaper to read for a few minutes. 

After his kids were done he took the car keys and they all went inside his Camaro - they only needed one car now, so selling Paige’s was the right thing to do. No one said anything in the trip to their new school. They wouldn’t tell him, but he could tell they were nervous. Jackson use to be the popular kid back in their last town, but now he was starting all over again - in a new high school, and for the first time having the Hale shadow on his shoulders. Derek parked outside the high school and his son left without saying goodbye. Erica was the one to tease him about it as usual. 

“See you later too, Jackson!” 

Derek huffed a laugh, and so did Isaac. His elder seemed even more upset as he walked down to the school. 

Next stop was Middle school for Erica. She kissed Isaac’s cheek and tapped Derek’s shoulder. “See you tonight, Dad.” Before he could reply she was out. Isaac then fidgeted the whole way to the Elementary School. 

“Relax, Isaac, you just need to flash them a smile I’m sure you’ll be okay.” 

“You think so, Dad? I’m really nervous… What if no one likes me?” 

Cora intervened before Derek could say anything. “Then you’ll hang around me!” 

Isaac gave a weak smile to his little sister, and Derek was happy to see his kids getting along. When he parked outside the school he left the car and unbuckled them, then held their hand to the main entrance. Most moms there looked at him like he was a piece of meat in an expensive uniform, how much he hated that that was nowhere in the books. 

The teacher who had being appointed as Isaac’s, a woman on her forties and with curly hair, smiled brightly at them. 

“Good morning, Mister Hale. This must be Isaac, right?” She looked at his son and offered him her hand. “I’ll be your teacher this year, my name is Melissa McCall.” 

“Nice to meet you, Miss McCall.” Isaac shyly took her hand, not before turning to his dad. “Can I have a good luck kiss, Dad? Mom always gave us good luck kisses on our first days.” 

Of course Paige did, she was so good with kids. Derek crouched down and kissed his forehead. “You’ll be great, son.” 

He would have loved to stay there and watch as he went to class, but he had to drop Cora off at kindergarten and still drive to work. 

Being a widower was much harder than they warned him. 

-Y- 

Danny was not the biggest fan of school, but he would not be the one to complain to his father. Stiles had too much in his mind for Danny to bother him with what those idiots said about him and the fact that he was gay. He was much better off out of the closet – not that he really had ever been inside it anyway. Most teenagers were complete douchebags, not that he really cared much about them - if he wanted a date, he certainly wouldn’t go for anyone he knew. He entered the classroom typing a text to Boyd (he was worried about his brother all alone in College, and he had promised he would give daily reports about how things were doing). 

“Day started okay. No one was late, but don’t think dad slept more than 2 h” 

He found his way to his usual seat, and the teacher of course had to mention it, having hated Danny since he'd learned the teenager’s surname was Stilinski – Stiles said Mister Harris had always been a pain in the ass. 

“Are you aware of what time it is, Mister Stilinski?” 

Danny looked to his cellphone, still lighten up in his hand. “Nine o’clock, sir. Why?” His may have been a bit too sassy for his own good, but whatever. 

“Because you’re late, that’s why.” 

“How was the fag party?” One of the stupid jocks shouted, and Danny had known they would probably do something like that. After all, Saturday he'd gone to a party at the house of a guy he'd met at Jungle (not that he was supposed to be at the club, but fake IDs are for that). “Had a cock up your ass all night?” 

“Probably can’t even sit down.” Another one said, and all the class giggled, like seeing someone humiliated was funny. “Party full of queers, totally gross.” Someone else amended. No one stood up for him, but no one ever did. 

Harris continued with the presence list, and the teenager had an idea. It wasn't exactly sensible, and the teacher would be pissed, but right now? He would sass the fuck out of that fucker. If he was called to the principal’s office he would find a way out of the mess. 

“Robbinson?” 

“here” 

“Sanchez?” 

“Here.” 

Danny smirked and leaned forward on his table as he heard his last name being called.  
“Stilinski?” 

“Queer.” The word made his class break in more giggles, obviously not getting it. Harris, on the other hand, lifted his gaze from the paper and stared directed at him. 

“What did you say?” 

“I said queer.” 

“I know what you said.” Harris was so utterly pissed, if Stiles saw his scene he would have probably congratulated his son, or that’s what Danny wanted to think. 

“Oh, that's a surprise, as when they say it you seem not to listen.” 

“I don’t like your tone, Stilinski.” 

“And I don’t like your compliance to their stupidity. Wanna send me to the principal’s office? Go ahead, he’ll love to hear about this, perhaps he’ll call my dad, and he’ll love to know about this too.” 

Harris looked like he was about to punch his student on the face, but instead took a deep breath and continued the presence list. Danny smirked and picked up his notebook. He was already distracted when the boy next to him - and now that Danny was looking, this kid was new to the school, with his jock looks and expensive clothes - leaned in close and whispered to him. 

“I like your attitude, my name is Jackson by the way.” He froze for a second, it was the first person to say something nice to him out of the blue. 

“Danny.” He replied shortly, not going to open up so fast; this could be just another douchebag pretending to be nice. 

“So, Danny, what do you guys play in this school?” Not a surprise this Jackson wanted to know about sports, he suited the image 

“Lacrosse. I’m the goalie.” It was weird game, but he loved playing. They were not the best team ever, but had made it to the local finals the previous year. Maybe this year they could even win. 

“What’s Lacrosse? Never heard of it.” Though the words were dismissive, the new kid seemed interested in learning. 

“Well-” Danny was about to start explaining when Harris interrupted them. 

“Stilinski! Hale! Quiet or I’ll give you both detention!” 

-O- 

_A few days later._

Stiles liked working, painting and drawing were probably the only thing – a side from parenting Stiles liked working, Painting and drawing were probably the only things – aside from parenting – he didn’t completely suck at. However, discussing his work with the authors was always hard, most believing that because of his ADHD he wouldn’t be able to focus and things would get sloppy. That’s one of the reasons Lydia always joined him in work meetings, she was a big deal in the publishing business and anyone knew that if she had his back he had to be good. 

They had just finished one of said meetings and were at a coffee shop. Stiles had liked this project, a children’s book about a wolf that fell in love with a fox. Simple stuff, but the message was good – it’s okay to love anyone and no one can say a thing about it. 

“So, how are the kids?” Lydia asked while texting someone. 

Stiles gave a half-smile. He knew Lydia was not a children’s person, but she was Alisson’s godmother and had really helped him out after Heather passed away. “Fine. Scott actually made a friend at school. A shy kid named Isaac, he won’t stop talking about him. The twins still refuse to call me Dad, but I won’t give them a hard time for it.” 

“Any boys interested in Allison? I mean, she and Kira are young ladies now, perhaps I should take them shopping.” 

“Well, there’s this boy Matt that likes Allison, but she doesn’t like him back. Kira likes one from her History class, even spent hours doing research for him, but I don’t think its gonna go anywhere.” He was damn lucky his girls would tell him about their love life, most parents had trouble because their kids refused to do so. The deal was that as long as they told him the truth he wouldn’t prohibit them from dating who they liked – unless they were total creepers or twenty years older. 

“And you?” 

“Smooth as fuck, Lydia.” He replied, placing their orders to the barista and walking away.  
“No, I’m not seeing anyone, it’s sort of hard when you have seven kids and live with your dad.” He didn’t mind that his Dad - having just retired from being the town’s Sheriff - lived with him, it was actually very helpful. However, it did make dating a lot harder. 

“If you tried, you could have a date. What would you rather, a man or a woman?” 

This was a weird thing to think about. He'd had a few dates since his wife had died, even a boyfriend for a few weeks four years ago. It was just that no one seemed right, and well, most people were scared by the fact he had a pack of kids waiting for him at home. 

“I don’t know… I mean, I'm just not that into girls, anyway, you know. Heather and I weren’t really passionate.” 

Lydia knew all the history of how things had happened, she had even been against the marriage but still was his “best woman”. The only time the two had fought had been at his stag party, when she tried to drive him to the Hale house so he could see Derek one last time. Stiles couldn’t see him, wouldn't, not after Derek hadn’t called him for over three months. His best friend had almost hit him, saying (somewhat desperately) that he was a stubborn idiot and he would end up trapped in a loveless marriage. Then she drove him to a strip club, but didn’t utter a word for the rest of the night. Being at odds with her had been hard, but she was mostly wrong - he had indeed loved Heather, maybe not maturely, and they didn't seem to have anything to lose at the time. 

They called his name for the coffee and Lydia went to pick it up, he smiled weakly. Thinking about the past made him feel like his life was moving too fast. God, now he was sounding like an old man in his mind. 

“Stiles, stop thinking!” 

“Hum?” He blinked and averted his gaze to her. “Oh, sorry Lydia.” 

“Let’s make a deal?” She offered as they walked towards their cars, cups in hand. “I’ll look for a perfect match for you, and when I find him or her, you’re going a date. No questions asked.” She had that confident look on that usually only made an appearance when she knew she was doing something genius. 

“Fine for me. I really need to get laid anyway.” 

Lydia smiled to him and patted his shoulder. “You sure do.” Then turned around and walked to her Porsche. “I’ll drop by Sunday for lunch, better be ready!” 

He rolled his eyes, laughing, and went to the jeep. He turned the radio on to some random station that played random amazing music that he always sang along to. Walking on Sunshine, now playing was the sort of thing he used to listen when he was in High School, and today was nostalgia day for the looks of things. He dropped by the house fifteen minutes later. 

When he entered through the back door, things were mostly calm. He spotted his dad on his armchair watching a baseball match on TV, Scott sitting on the ground playing with his cars. Aiden and Ethan were laying on the rug talking to each other in whatever language they had created. The only thing weird, though, was the rock song coming from the second floor - this was not a good sign. 

“Hey there, dad.” He said, now standing next to his father. “What’s that about?” He gestured up with his eyebrows. 

John sighed and turned to his son. “Kira came from school crying, ran upstairs and closed herself in the room.” 

“Obvious signs of a heartbreak. Do you mind picking Allison and Danny up from school? I think my daughter needs my abilities to cheer people up.” 

His dad smiled. “No problem, son.” 

-M- 

“And you see? The dude was ultra-hot, fine piece of ass. I even got his number and name for you, Derek.” Peter said, pushing the piece of paper on his hand. Derek sighed and threw the thing directly on the trash can. 

“I already told you I’m not going to date anyone.” It didn’t feel right, not after Paige. She had been the one to make him give a shot at relationships again, even if his heart still ached because of Stiles. Now, he felt like he owed to her to remain faithful. 

“Come on, Derek. You said until death do us part. I’m sorry, my dear nephew, but she’s gone! You have to give humanity a second chance! You’re grumpiness is becoming unbearable.” 

Derek decided the best he could do was to ignore his uncle, they'd had the same discussion every time Peter tried to set him on a date, which was ever since he moved to Beacon Hills, every two days or so. Now they were at the base, because of all the people in the world of course he was going to work with Peter Hale. The same man that last week had shouted ‘Alpha boy!’ (his nickname at the base) when they arrived at his parents house and embarrassed Derek for live, the culprit. 

“Sometimes I think that I should just find that boy you used to date. What was his name?” 

“Stiles.” Derek practically growled the response, even if he knew this was a stupid reaction. Peter knew the name, he was only teasing his nephew. “Oh, my sweet Derek. Please, listen to me, you need to get some of this steam off your system. Just get someone to fuck already.” 

“I’m a father of four and a widower, I have no time for one-night stands.” He walked faster, trying to get away from Peter, but of course the older man was right beside him again, raising his arms as if in defeat. 

“Okay, no more talk about your need to get laid. How are the little ones?” 

“Adapting better than I imagined they would. Jackson entered the… Lacrosse team? Weird sport you play here.” 

“In my time it was basketball, but well, the boy is following the steps of the family.” Peter talked as he now texted someone, probably another one of his endless dates. “Is Erica still sassy?” 

Derek sighed and rolled his eyes. “Yes, Peter, she is following your footsteps to become the next sass master of the family. And Cora is right after her, even if she reminds me more of Laura.” 

“Well, you can’t win them all.” 

“Isaac made a friend.” Derek said, still happy about it from the bottom of his heart. Seeing his son run towards him smiling the brightest in a long while and talking about this boy Scott (that wanted to be just like Captain America and had asked Isaac to be his Bucky) was just priceless. Genuine happiness in his kids face was something so rare he could barely stop smiling about it. “A non-imaginary one according to his teacher.” 

“Great, one lone-wolf is enough per family.” 

“God, Peter. Just shut up, okay?” 

His uncle seemed to think about it for one second then turned to face him. “Nope. No matter how much you dislike me, you need my advice, Derek.” 

The younger man actually face palmed and dragged his hand across his face. “How do people like you?” 

“Because differently from certain people I actually am charming and polite.” 

Derek only rolled his eyes and picked up his cellphone, dialing Laura to check on the kids. 

“Hey, Der.” 

“Hello, Laura. Just called to make sure everything was fine.” He always regretted not being able to stay with his kids more, but he had to work or they wouldn’t have a place to sleep. His sister though worked as web designer, and was able to work at his place and watch over the kids for him. 

“Yes. Oh, before I forget, you have a parent and teacher meeting to attend next Wednesday. Isaac brought the leaflet.” 

He closed his eyes for a moment. God, he hated those parent and teacher stuff. Even when he and Paige went together, he always ended up being treated like he didn’t know shit about his kids and had no interested in knowing (one of Jackson’s kindergarten teachers even pointed out he wasn’t really the father and Derek almost beat the living crap out of him). Now that he would go alone everyone would always ask 'where’s the mother?' Like he couldn’t possibly care about his kids that much, or say stupid obvious things. 

“Do you want me to go with you?” His sister asked, worried about him as always. 

“No, it’s my responsibility. Besides, I should meet Scott’s parents so Isaac can have a playdate.” His kid wanted it so bad to be able to play with his friend outside of school, but Derek needed to be sure it was safe first. 

“Fine, baby bro. See ya later.” 

She hung up and he put the cellphone back in his pocket, sighing. Peter patted his back and smirked. 

“Let’s make the cadet’s life hell.” 

Derek usually would be against it, but right then he just sighed - again - and shrugged. His uncle seemed incredibly pleased. Peter had an unhealthy obsession with keeping the looks that he was a mean and crazy commander, and that he didn’t care about his soldiers. Derek thought this was ridiculous, everyone was there to work and these kids would be damaged enough in the future. However, that treatment was expected by the newbies, and right now he didn’t bother to stop his uncle. 

-Y- 

Scott woke up scared, clutching his dog plushie against his chest and curling his toes. It was dark in their room, no light but that of the small night lamp on the other side of the room – it was mostly for the twins, because they were scared of the dark (something about what their father did to them, and Scott knew he shouldn’t ask more about it). The boy hated bad dreams, because they always made him feel powerless. He knew that even Captain America had nightmares, but it was different. Because Captain America’s bad men weren’t people trying to take him away, weren’t an empty house and being alone. 

Most of the kids in his class would make fun of him, but he just knew it was useless trying to keep things inside. So – being very careful not to wake up Aiden and Ethan – he got up, and walked downstairs, taking his plushie and his favorite blanket with him. He didn’t make a single sound whilst moving through the hallway. His sibling's bedroom door was open and he considered going to Allison’s bed for a moment, but he couldn’t wake her up either. The light was on in his father’s room, and Scott stood there by the door. His daddy was drawing, wearing his glasses, plaid pajama pants and the Henley he'd had since forever. 

“Papa?” The boy called. 

Stiles turned to face his son, a bit surprised, a bit worried. “What happened, Scotty?” He got up and walked to his son, crouching down in front of him. 

“Had a bad dream.” He looked down to his bare feet shyly. His father looked at him seriously and ran his fingers through Scott’s hair. 

“How bad?” 

“Bad bad.” 

“So we’ll make blanket fort to protect you.” 

And that’s what they did, a pillow and blanket fort. Stiles laid on his back and Scott slept on his side, half of his body over his dad’s. He felt protected there. 

“Want me to ready you a story?” 

“Yep. Goodnight Moon!” 

Stiles sighed like he knew this already and picked up said book. The words were a mix Scott's head, until he fell asleep fondly. Somewhere in the night he woke up again to find Kira had found a place on their father’s other side, and Allison was behind him, like she wanted to protect him too. Danny was curled up around their father’s feet. He couldn’t see the twins around, which was sad – Scott wanted them to be family, even if they did stupid things most times. 

When his dad’s phone rang the alarm in the morning, Kira turned it off while mumbling. Danny was actually articulate, though. 

“Today is the universally allowed ‘Five more minutes’ day.” 

None of them complained about it. Not even when his grandpa showed up with the twins and shouted at them for being late for school (all Stiles did was pull them to the pillow fort too and make everyone half an hour late), or when they had to go all in the crowded jeep to the school. Because they were family, and more importantly them anything they loved each other and no one would ever get in the way. 

When Scott arrived late to class – with his father walking him to the room – Miss McCall was a bit upset, but she just messed his hair and told him to get the notes from Isaac. 

“You’re late, what happened?” His friend whispered in worry. 

“Pillow fort night.” Scott had a big silly smile on that fainted to the look of confusion in his friend’s face. “You know, when everyone builds a pillow fort and sleeps there, cuddling and stuff?” 

“No one does that at my house.” Isaac said, sounding half confused half upset. 

“Then what do you do when you have bad dreams?” 

Isaac blinked a few times. “I stay in bed and try to get back to sleep. Dad has nightmares too sometimes, so it’s not okay to go to his bed.” 

That was a real shock for Scott, how could a dad not let his kids sleep on his bed when they had a nightmare? Especially if he had nightmares too, then all of them could protect each other. 

“So, when our dads finally let you sleep at my place, we will make pillow forts!” 

-O- 

Derek sighed and rolled his eyes, hearing the mess that was Jackson and Erica begging him to leave them alone at the house. 

“Come on, Derek!” 

“Yeah, dad. We don’t need a babysitter!” Erica was grabbing his arm and jumping up and down quite obnoxiously. 

“Leaving you two to take care of Isaac and Cora?” Derek asked raising his eyebrows. “Not going to happen.” 

“You don’t trust us?” Jackson was by his other side, sounding outraged now. 

The man refused to answer, only turning on his heels and walking to the living room, where the girl he had asked to babysit the kids (a young recruit named Braeden) was telling Cora the amazing story of how she had got those scars on her neck – after almost being killed by a bear in the woods, it seemed. His daughter looked thoroughly impressed and so did his younger son. 

“I’m leaving now. I’ll be back before ten.” 

He picked up the car keys and put his old leather jacket on. The recruit looked up to him, smiling openly. 

“Things will be okay, sir. Go say goodnight to your dad, kids.” 

Cora ran to him, and the man lifted his little girl so she could kiss his cheek. After that she frowned, though. 

“I don’t like your stubble.” 

“Too bad.” He messed her hair and put her back on the floor. Stubble was something he'd always had, though sometimes it grew into a beard – which his kids seemed to like even less. Isaac came next, waiting for Derek to lean closer before kissing his other cheek. “You promise you’ll talk to Scott’s dad?” Because apparently his son’s friend was also raised by a single dad, what were the odds? 

“Promise.” He got up only to catch a glimpse of Jackson before he stormed to his room, slamming the door. Erica just rolled her eyes and turned her back on him, not saying a word. 

The drive to the school was fairly boring, and the parking lot was so full that he had to spend nearly ten minutes to find a spot (and ended up next to a blue jeep he was pretty sure he had seen before somewhere). Derek sighed and walked resolutely towards the school - he knew where his kids class was, and he also knew he was late. He knocked twice on the door of Isaac’s classroom before coming in, looking down and giving a half-hearted smile to Miss McCall. 

“Good evening, sorry I’m late.” 

“It’s fine, Mister Hale. I’ll ask you to seat over there.” She pointed to an empty chair, but the sight of the person that would be sitting to his left gave him pause. 

Stiles fucking Stilinski. Sitting there, wearing too big glasses, baggy jeans a bit torn on the knees and stained from paint, his tight red t-shirt sporting big white letters forming “NVCR” and what seemed to be an eye over it. It had to be some crazy indie reference – because he hadn’t changed that much, even had a hoodie over it. Stiles seemed as surprised as him, and looking at his face made the older man feel like a teenager all over again, those round eyes staring at him, that perfect mouth open in surprise. And of course the bed hair, that made Derek want to pull the younger man into a kiss, a filthy and angry one for all the trouble he had caused, and for apparently still making Derek uncomfortably aroused. 

“You should have a lot to talk about.” He looked at his son’s teacher, who by her smile seemed too pleased with herself. 

He eventually went there and sat beside Stiles. They exchanged glances and Derek wanted to kill himself of embarrassment. Because of course after fifteen years he just had to meet his ex-boyfriend in a parent and teacher meeting. Why the heck had he accepted to move back here? It was only a matter of time before that happened. 

“So, back in town, hum?” Stiles whispered, scratching the back of his head. 

“For two months now.” He was not going to make small talk with him. Nope, not happening. 

However, this was Stiles, and he never shut up. “It’s good to have you back, this town was lacking some hotness. Well, I mean, they have me, and Lydia, but dude, you’re always like this model that made all the girls wanna kill me. And I must say, you’re just like fine wine, Derek.” And there was the rambling. “But what brings you back to Beacon Hills anyway?” 

“Work.” He should ignore the other man, it was the sensible thing to do - even though he knew he couldn't, Stiles was one of the few things he actually missed on this town. 

“Yeah, what are you working with?” 

“I’m sorry, Misters Stilinski and Hale, can you please be quiet for a few minutes? We are in the middle of the meeting.” 

Derek focused on her, and from there on tried his best to seem completely interested in everything - he knew he needed to, but it was hard to keep track of four different parent and teacher meetings. At some point, Miss McCall finally turned to them. 

“And last but not least, I’d like to tell you guys that you’re fathers of my little puppy tricksters. Don’t worry, they’re harmless most of the times, but I recommend you let them play outside school. Both of them would make great use of that.” 

Stiles turned to Derek, eyes wider in surprise. “You are Isaac’s dad?” 

“Yes. And I suppose you’re Scott’s?” 

“Yep.” 

There should be a competition of who had the biggest series of unfortunate coincidences, Derek would most definitely win. The teacher clapped her hands, smiling and oblivious to his distress. "Now you can look your kids projects, and I’ll be here in case anyone wants to talk to me in private.” 

Most parents got up, Derek included, planning to take a quick look in what his son had done and slip back to his place. The moment he got up, though, Stiles was standing right in front of him. “Well, since we’re looking at the same project – Scott doesn’t stop saying how nice it is to work with Isaac, and that their project totally rocks – and I suppose you don’t have anything to say to Melissa, so perhaps you’d like to go and have a coffee with me?” 

“Stiles, you have ADHD and it’s almost nine o’clock. I’m not gonna drink coffee with you.” 

Stiles rolled his eyes. “Oh my god! Derek, I’m not asking you to deal with me afterwards, I’m asking you to be a grown up and at least get to talk to me, since I’m the dad of your son’s friend.” 

“I know you.” 

“You _knew_ me. I’ve changed.” And he had that smirk on his lips, because he knew how to work his way to get Derek doing what he wanted. “Please, Derek. The only adult that ever talks to me outside work is Lydia, and Chuck knows what continuous exposure to her may do to a person.” 

Derek wants to point out to Stiles that it had been Lydia the one to tell him that the Sherriff’s son was getting married to some girl he knocked up after Derek didn’t call for a month. That she had looked to him full of pity, a rare picture. ‘You were too late, Sourwolf. Lil Red found his woods woman.’ But he knew this was past and that no matter how nice Lydia had been that night, she was still Lydia 

“Fine.” He ended up saying, pretty sure he would regret this later on. 

He and Stiles took a look in the kids’ project – a book with a collage of pictures and drawings, and they supposedly told the ‘real’ story of the Little Red Riding Hood. Something about birthday cakes and happy endings. Derek didn’t understand a thing about this creative stuff, but he guessed this was good. Stiles seemed to be impressed, taking photos of the project and grinning. After he was done, the younger man turned to Derek. 

“Came with your car or by foot?” 

“Car.” Derek sighed. “I’ll meet you in the caffé.” 

“No way, you’ll probably just go back home and leave me behind.” He was not completely wrong though, that was part of Derek’s plan. “You’ll drive me to the coffee shop and then back to School.” 

“I will?” 

“Yep. Let’s go, Sourwolf.” And he patted his back, smirking and then walking ahead. Derek rolled his eyes - while remaining stern, mind you - and followed behind. This brought him back to the time when they were together, when Stiles always found a way to convince him to do what he wanted. 

“Bye, Melissa. See you on Friday?” Stiles said to the teacher, wide smile still in place. 

“If that’s an invitation, sure.” 

Derek frowned in mild confusion, to which Stiles clarified when they were leaving. “I think my dad likes her, so I’m trying to set them up.” 

Then came some seconds of silence - that is, until they actually got to his car. 

“Dude, if I didn’t know what you have inside your pants I’d definitely think this car is compensation for something.” 

Derek was starting to wander how had he had endured Stiles for three years, and how in the hell had the younger man not changed a thing since they'd first met. “Where are we going?” 

“There's a fairly decent coffee shop three blocks from here, and it stays open 24/7 so I’m mostly in love with the place.” 

The shop was not half bad indeed, a family business, and the owner seemed to know Stiles, as he just smiled at them and made the young man a cup of what seemed to be his favorite coffee. Soon they were both settled on a table by the window, in an awkward silence as neither knew what to say. Derek crossed his arms over his chest, arching an eyebrow at his ex. “Well.” 

“What?” 

“I suppose we should talk. And since you were the one to suggest this, and you’re you, you should do the talking.” 

“Gosh, you haven’t changed a thing, still a grumpy wolf.” Stiles smirked before taking a sip of his drink. “You should order something, I feel bad eating by myself.” 

“It’s late, I already had my dinner.” He and his kids had eaten some of the food his sister had brought from their parents place, as usual. 

“So have I, tonight was sushi night.” 

“You don’t like sushi.” Derek remembered the infortune incident on Lydia’s 17th birthday that had resulted in him taking Stiles back home, where he dramatized feeling sicker than he really was so the Sherriff would let Derek stay for the night. “You threw up last time I saw you eating that.” 

“I did, didn’t I? Well, my daughter Kira is half-Japanese, she likes sushi a lot – even if it’s a dumb stereotype to assume she likes only because her biological parents were Asian, she could dislike it, but anyway -, so I got used to eating it, for her. Scott sometimes eats the wasabi thinking that it is guacamole, it’s priceless. We also have one day that we eat Bolivian food, as Scott’s mom was from Bolivia.” Of course, Stiles had adopted kids from all sorts of ascendency, after all he'd always said that when he was old enough he would adopt all the kids he could. Derek wished he could do something like that, but right now he could barely take care of his own. “Oh my Chuck, I’m talking too much. Do you have any more kids, or just Isaac?” 

“I have four. Isaac is the third.” He sighed, and smiled remembering when each was born. Well, not Jackson, but he remembered when he first had been called Dad by the boy. It had meant I lot. “And you?” 

Stiles scratched the back of his head, hesitating a moment. “Well, it's a bit chocking to most people… I have seven kids.” 

Derek was a tiny bit surprised by the number, especially considering Stiles was younger than him, but just shrugged in reply. “If you’re a good dad, it doesn’t matter how many children you have.” Stiles beamed bright and genuine at that, reminding him of how he'd loved causing smile. 

“Thanks, Der.” 

The feeling in those words made Derek smile in return. This meeting was not going bad at all. He ended up asking for a coffee as well, and when he did so he saw Stiles' eyes finding his wedding ring – he couldn’t bring himself to take it off just yet. “Dude, if you have a wife to go back to-” 

“I don’t.” He bluntly replied, looking down. When he glanced up to look at Stiles again, he saw surprise and the slightest shock in his face. “Sorry, it’s just… She isn’t around anymore. Passed away two years ago.” 

“Oh, I’m so sorry, man.” He leaned in to hold Derek’s hand in a gesture that was all comfort. “She must have meant a lot to you.” 

He hated to think about Paige when he was facing Stiles, when they were talking again for the first time in almost fifteen years. ”Yeah, she did.” He looked down, and tangled his fingers in Stiles’ lean ones. “And your wife? I mean, the last I heard you were getting married.” Without even telling me about it, he wanted to add, but didn’t need to as the bitterness filled his words even without intent. 

“Heather? She passed away too, seven years now.” 

Well, if this wasn’t the most depressing conversation Derek had ever had, he wasn’t sure which one was. The coffee arrived by then, and he untangled his fingers and leaned back. Stiles seemed somewhat taken aback by that, but put resumed his earlier position as well, sipping his coffee. The drink turned out to be delicious, and it made him remember how long he had been without a decent cup of coffee. 

“Our kids will probably ask, so can Isaac have a play day with Scott?” 

Derek raised his eyes to Stiles' and answered, composed. “Sure, why not?” 

Stiles smiled, almost like he was the one being allowed to play with his friend. “Great! Gimme your cellphone.” Derek scowled, which of course made the other man laugh. “We need each other’s numbers, so we can set up dates.” 

He wasn’t very used to the whole ‘playdate’ thing, Paige usually set those up, but he gave his phone to Stiles either way. Who frowned looking at the block screen – a photo of all Derek’s kids. “Wait a minute, you’re Jackson’s dad?” 

“Yes. He’s my oldest.” 

“He’s my Danny’s new friend.” Stiles snorted a laugh. “That’s a damn coincidence.” Derek could notice there was some bitterness in the way he spoke, but he couldn’t understand why. Probably his son had been a douche to Stiles in whatever occasion that might have been possible, he wouldn’t be surprised by that. 

His line of thought was broken as Stiles’ phone started ringing something about ‘Everybody loves me’. 

“Talking about Danny.” He picked up the call. “Hey there, Danny-boy.” 

Derek wasn’t very surprised that Jackson hadn’t told him that he'd made a friend, just that he was one of Stiles’ kids. It just wasn’t the kind of friend he expected his eldest son to have, but this was actually good. Maybe if he hanged around people that had a different views of life he would stop acting like he had for the past months. 

“Oh, I see. What a bastard! I’m gonna pick you up, don’t you worry.” He seemed determined - not a surprise. “Ah, Jackson said you could sleep at his place?” He looked up at Derek. “Okay, behave and use protection.” Derek’s eyes widened and Stiles barked a laugh. “I know he’s not your type, son. See you tomorrow.” 

“I’m sorry, but your son cannot sleep at my house.” 

“Why?” Stiles seemed utterly confused by it. 

“Because Jackson didn’t ask me.” It would probably not make any sense to the younger man, who didn’t seem to have to worry about gaining his kids' respect or thrust. “He can’t just decide something like that and don’t ask me first.” 

“But, Danny- ” 

“If Jackson calls me to ask if Danny can sleep there, I’ll allow it, but if I arrive home and your son is there I’ll drive him home.” 

“That’s just shitty, man! They are friends, and they are teenagers, they need to have this sort of secret moments!” 

“They don’t need to lie! They have to know lying doesn’t solve shit.” And now he was angry, great. Because yeah, all he wanted was to his son to ask him permission, because no matter how mad his kid was with him, he was still the parent. 

“Okay, then…” Of course Stiles didn’t seem pleased with that, but he always avoided the fucking problem. As if the fact that people argued made their relationship less valuable. “I’ll call Danny and tell him to go home, then.” 

The younger man got up and walked outside to talk to his son. Derek sighed and ran his hands through his hair. He should have known that things were going too well to continue like that. 

-M- 

Stiles arrived home and went upstairs to his room. However, for the first time in forever, he didn’t went straight to work. He turned his computer on as he removed his converses and his hoodie. Seeing Derek had had a harder impact on him than he expected. He'd thought about meeting him again lots of times, but it actually happening? Was something totally unexpected. 

And now Stiles knew finally what had happened to the older man while they were apart. Derek seemed older than he really was, and so unhappy, not even a bit less attractive tough. Oh my, Heather was right. No matter what Derek had done, it was just a flash of that grumpy face and he was right back in his teenager years. Well, it was no crime to just google the man's name and see what he had been up to. 

So he tipped ‘Derek Hale’. 

And begun the reading. He couldn’t say he was very pleased with what he found out. 

Derek was a soldier now – had been promoted to commander a while back. When had this happened? The Hale boy had always dreamt of being a musician – he played the guitar and the electric guitar like no one Stiles had ever met. 

His wife had been a musician too, actually pretty famous, a cellist named Paige Hale (maiden name Whittemore). She'd played in the philharmonic of Chicago. They had four kids and she had died of some incurable auto-immune disease. There was more about her than about him, which was no great surprise. 

For some reason, seeing the man smiling truthful and loving to his wife made Stiles wish Derek had loved him like that. No surprise he had been left behind in Beacon Hills by the older man, Derek had found his true love. 

-Y- 

Derek didn’t actually understand why, after arriving home (and checking if all of his kids were in bed, alone) he sat back on his own bed and picked up one of the old yearbooks that Stiles had smuggled out for him. Back then he had thought this pathetic, because really? Why did he need Stiles yearbook? Now he was thankful for it. 

He had a page marker on the only photo that mattered to him. ‘King and King of the Prom’ Stiles had risked the Queen in every single yearbook. Because of course they had won. Stiles wasn’t even a girl and Derek didn’t even go to school with them anymore. However, everyone had decided it was a good joke to vote for them as king and queen. They believed Stiles would be humiliated by it - instead, he'd grabbed Derek’s hand and dragged him up the stage. Delivering the most incredibly ‘Fuck u all’ speech someone could probably muster (mentioning how hot Derek was and how none of them would get a piece of him an uncomfortable amount of times). 

In the picture, they were smiling like they meant it and wearing those stupid crowns. He touched Stiles' face on the picture, and whispered. 

“I’m sorry I can’t make you smile like this anymore.” 

He was too broken for that. Even so, he wished he could. 

-O- 

_A few weeks late_

The thing that neither Stiles nor Derek knew was that, once a month, Lydia Martin and Peter Hale met up to discuss things like world domination and their last love affairs or whatever else struck their fancy. They had met after Derek and Stiles broke up, when Peter dated Lydia for all the wrong reasons (those being she was hot and powerful, though barely legal). It had been a nasty break-up, but two years later they met again, both trying to seduce the same woman - obviously, Lydia won the girl in the end, but Peter really didn’t mind. And from there on, they became something like friends, but not quite. 

“So, they have been seeing each other.” Peter said, his back against the edge of Lydia’s pool, drinking some crazy colorful drink her butler had prepared. 

The woman was by his side, smirking as usual. “They have. According to Stiles, your nephew is still as hot as he remembers.” 

Peter smirked. “Lydia, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” 

“That they are two complete idiots?” She had that teasing look on her face that said she knew that wasn’t what he was thinking. 

“That’s true, but come on, Martin. We’ve been waiting for this opportunity since you heard Derek was coming back.” He took another sip of the drink. 

“Actually, since Derek’s wife died.” The woman had no mercy when it came to making things work her way. “But we didn’t want to be responsible for their first meeting, or it would be too obvious.” 

“Luckily, they reproduced like rabbits.” Peter had never had kids, he despised the idea of having to take care of someone else. God, he could barely keep a girlfriend. “And Beacon Hills is a small town.” 

“I already told you to move to NY, your place is not here, my dear.” 

He knew she was probably right, but he enjoyed making his big sister annoyed too much. Talia was always so calm and collected, but Peter knew how to make her angry enough so she would tell him to leave. Yeah, it was childish of his part, but knowing he could do that was worth gold. Maybe he would move when he was older. 

“Blind date?” Lydia asked, already picking up her iPhone to set everything up. 

“Yes, a classic. Besides, they’re too dumb to realize that we coordinated.” 

Lydia smiled at him. “I’ll get everything on track and pay for the dinner, you mind choosing the hotel?” 

“What makes you so sure they’ll end up using it, sweetie?” 

She hated when he called her that, but he could never resist the teasing anyway. “Please, Peter.” And gave that almost laugh of hers that made Peter smirk and finish his drink. 

There were days Peter thought how things would have been if he and Lydia had never broke up. However, he was pretty sure hell would be more comfortable than being married to Lydia Martin. 

-M- 

Lydia sometimes really hated her job. Because, basically, she was Stiles’ babysitter. He was an amazing painter and illustrator, she couldn’t have asked for someone more talented. On the other hand, sometimes he forgot their meetings. Like today. She actually waited for him for twenty six minutes before coming over to the Stilinski household. Stiles didn’t know how lucky he was to be her best friend, anyone else would have been fired and replaced asap. Lydia left the car and walked towards the house. John was outside, sitting on a chair and looking both annoyed and in pain, which, along with the extremely high sound (rock...maybe) that was coming from inside the house, was not a good sign. 

“He’s having an artistic day I suppose.” Those were days when Stiles wouldn’t be really with them, he had his paints and his pencils around him, and would draw and paint for the whole day. The tough part of it: things always went out of control around him when this happened. 

The older man looked up at her and gave a weak smile. “Not that bad… Just needed some air.” He was so clearly lying that she didn’t even try to point it out to him, just sighed and put her hair behind her ear, before walking into the house. 

Lydia looked to hell, and hell looked back. This place was a complete mess. 

She saw Scott running around in his underwear, covered in paint and rolling his body against the walls. Kira was playing the electric guitar so loud the woman believed she may grow deaf. The only sound competing with it was Allison’s shouts at her father, something in the lines of: ‘You don’t even listen! I already told you a compound bow is only dangerous if the person chooses for it to be!’ The twins were sitting on the floor, playing videogames and she didn’t really look, but by the sound of it, Danny had some boy over and they were getting something done upstairs that wasn’t homework. 

And amongst this complete and utter chaos, Stiles was standing there, just painting. 

She sighed and rolled her eyes before proceeding to unplug Kira’s guitar, stop Scott and tell him to go take a bath now and then go stand next to Allison, pat her shoulder and whisper 

“I got this.” 

The girl rolled her eyes and sat on the coach, next to her sister. Lydia took a deep breath and went for the last part of her mission, holding Stiles face between her hands and making him face her. 

“Hey there.” 

He seemed genuinely confused about seeing her there. “Lydia? Anything happened?” She let go of his face and turned on her heels, walking around the room. 

“Nothing. I was just left waiting in a coffee shop for twenty six minutes. Can you believe that, Aiden?” 

The boy had been staring wide-eyed at her ever since she entered the house, his crush was so adorable. He nodded firmly and she blew him a kiss before continuing. “Then I arrive here to find out if something has happened to you, dead worried, and when I enter, complete chaos greets me.” 

“Homes are for free expression, not for good impression.” Stiles recited his motto, like he believed that would work with her. Lydia knew him too damn well. Stiles didn’t realize that houses are a reflection of the person, and it didn’t matter the good impression. 

“I don’t care what you think houses are for. Just that you owe me for leaving me sitting in the coffee shop alone.” 

He seemed pained by the idea of owing her something, and Lydia had to resist the temptation to actually do something mean to him. She was actually going to be too nice to the man this once. 

“I have a date set up for you, Saturday 8:30.” She pushed the card of the place on his chest and gave a half smile that stood up more for irritation than happiness. “You’ll be there. Lucky for you, the guy I found is the hottest piece of ass to ever walk the streets of Beacon Hills.” She used the same words Stiles had always used to describe Derek when they were together, not that he would remember that, though. 

“So, why are you offering me a date with him? If he’s that hot, you would take him as your sex toy.” Stiles said, suspicious. 

The truth was, no matter how much Derek was sexy, Lydia had had enough of Hales in her bed for a life time with Peter. She was not looking forward to repeat the experience. Besides, contrary to what people seemed to believe, she put her friends ahead of her sex life (she really didn’t know from where people got the idea she would devour their boyfriends and exes, she had only done that once in High School). 

“He’s not into what I have to offer.” Was a far more simple answer, though, and it wasn’t really a lie. 

Stiles smiled to her, then looked at the restaurant card. His eyes widened and he stared at her in shock. “This place is too expensive, Lydia. I can’t let you pay for this.” 

“You can, and you will. End of conversation. Now, let’s get down to business.” 

“To defeat the Huns.” Allison and Lydia whispered before giggling. 

Lydia didn’t even mind this time, because her plan was finally on motion. Whilst Stiles went to pick up his drawings, she texted Peter. 

_‘To Peter: [16:47] the blind date is a go.’_

-Y- 

Derek sat on his bed, wondering how he had got into this mess. Peter had set him on a blind date with some guy a friend of his knew (he wasn’t expecting much of it, last one had been with Peter’s ex-girlfriend and all she did was talk about him). The thing is Derek couldn’t possibly tell his kids he was seeing a man, especially since he didn’t believe this would last enough to become relevant. And there was no need to stress them with something that wasn't relevant to their lives. 

“Dad! Pay attention to me!” Erica was annoyed, holding him by his t-shirt and shaking him. “You have to be amazing!” 

He sighed, just staring at his daughter, who smiled at him and then opened his closet. Cora climbed on his lap, hugging him a little too tight. 

“Will Uncle Peter be nice to us?” 

Peter had promised to watch his kids so he could go on the date, which was a real source of concern, since Peter acted like he would rather the world was free from all children. 

“If he is mean to you, you call me and I’ll come back.” He said, running his fingers through her hair. She nodded and hid her face on his shoulder. 

Isaac was standing quietly behind him and now ran his fingers through his father’s hair. Erica pouted looking at the wardrobe. 

“How come you only have black clothes, Dad? You can’t go dressed in black again!” 

Derek rolled his eyes. “I can, and I will.” He hadn’t asked his kids to help him, they had all just showed up after he'd showered and now had taken over the room. Not that he was really complaining about it. Even Jackson had come, he was by the door looking annoyed. 

“He has that gray button shirt, it will look great.” He said, trying to sound bored. 

“Great idea, Jacks!” Erica smiled and picked up said shirt before laying it on the bed. Derek sighed, he hadn’t used this shirt in years, there was no guarantee it still fitted. 

“Is she going to be our new mom?” Isaac asked in a whisper, his chin. Resting on his dad's shoulder and insecurity more than obvious in his voice. 

He should’ve known this situation would show up, it was one of the reasons why he didn’t date in the first place. Cora lifted her head to look at him as well, waiting for his answer. 

“No one will ever take your mother’s place. She’ll always be your mom, it doesn’t matter who I date.” 

This was a delicate subject, and that was the only answer he could think that wouldn’t sound completely wrong. He was apparently right in his assessment, as he saw Jackson actually smiling in the corner before stepping inside the room (sour look in place). 

“Erica, you have no sense of fashion, let me do this.” He pushed the girl, whose reaction was to put her hands on her hips and stare at him dead serious. 

“You’ll make him look like a jock! No one likes a jock!” 

Derek rolled his eyes, and heard his younger kids laughing. Well, even if this date went bad – which it probably would – it had at least earned him some peaceful family moments with his kids. 

-O- 

Stiles wasn’t nervous. Nope, not even a little bit. He was an independent single dad that needed no date. It didn’t matter that he actually wanted this to work out well enough for him to have some sex - because god, if someone didn’t sex him up sometime soon he would die from unresolved sexual tension. 

“Dad, you’re thinking out loud again.” Kira said, smiling in that cutie way of hers. 

The man rolled his eyes and sighed, looking at his wardrobe. He had no idea how he was supposed to dress for this occasion, so he'd called the kids over to his room so they could help. They were all on his bed, watching his movements and chatting. He should feel self-conscious, since he was only wearing his plain black boxers, but those were his kids. 

“Okay, this is like the worse idea ever! I’m a hipster and a nerd! There’s no way anyone will ever find that sexy, I’ll just call Lydia-” 

Allison grabbed his cellphone before he could and sat over it. “You’re going on this date! If Lydia chose this dude, I bet he knows what he’s getting himself into.” 

Stiles sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m just a bit anxious.” 

“Did you take your Adderall today, Papa?” Scott asked, worried, because of course his kids would consider that. 

“Yep.” 

“You should wear those tight black jeans we got you for Christmas.” Danny said, like he had been thinking about it for hours. “If you want the D, of course. Because they look amazing on you.” 

Stiles smiled and jumped to his feet, picking said jeans and putting it on. “Is Danny right, kids?” 

“Yeah!” Scott shouted, jumping on the bed, even though he probably didn't know what that meant. 

Kira nodded, smiling even more openly. Allison made a "thumbs up", dimpling in the process. Aiden and Ethan stared at him for a few seconds, and eventually the second nodded - even if it was not as excited as the rest of the kids, it was something already. 

“Dad, use the Cap t-shirt!” Scott exclaimed, excitement open as always. 

And, Stiles did. Because he had asked for his kids' suggestions, and he should take them seriously. He took the t-shirt, dark blue with the shield design in the middle. Allison got up, picked one of his vests and pushed it on his chest. 

“So you don’t look like a jailbait.” 

He laughed and put it on. Kira was the last one to have input, picking up his black leather converses and smiled. “You’ll look amazing with those.” 

Stiles couldn’t be glad enough for his kids, they were all so sweet and loving. He stood there for a moment, just looking at them. God, he loved them so damn much. 

“Stiles, you’re gonna be late.” His dad said from the door. 

“What time is it?” Allison handed him the phone and he checked, damn, 8:20! He was going to be late. “Fuck!” 

“Dad!” Danny said, reprehending him. 

“Shit!” Stiles was nervous as fuck, and he picked up his cellphone, his wallet and his cars keys in a hurry. Then kissed all his kids foreheads. “Behave, obey your pops.” He said. 

“Dad, just remember.” Kira said smiling. “For the first time in forever, at least you got a chance.” 

“Love is an Open door!” Scott shouted from his place. 

Stiles laughed – his kids had loved ‘Frozen’ so much that they'd acquired the habit to quote the songs to him - and kissed his father’s cheek. John rolled his eyes. 

The young man ran downstairs and to his jeep. After he closed the door, it took him another five minutes to breath in and out and control himself. He was gonna be fucking awesome in this date, no man would be able to resist him. 

“I’m fire, I’m death, I’m Stiles motherfucking Stilinski.” 

The drive to the restaurant was fast – but inside the speed limit, because his dad was an ex-sheriff and he needed to be a good example. He had never been to that place, it wasn’t the sort of place he would take Heather. Stiles even parked his jeep one block away, not exactly wanting to show his drive to anyone, not when he wanted to seem grown up. Stiles checked how his hair was for the last time before leaving the car, he hadn’t brought his glasses, but since they were only for reading he should be fine. 

The path down to the restaurant was a restless one. He almost turned back at least a dozen times, but eventually he entered the place. The man by the door greeted him with a smile. 

“Do you have a reservation, sir?” 

“Yeah, in the name of Lydia Martin.” He was rocking on his feet in anxiety. 

“Oh, I see. Your date is here already, sir. Please come with me.” Stiles went inside feeling like a complete idiot, because of course his date had arrived on time. He looked around, trying to find the ‘hottest piece of ass in the history of Beacon Hills’. 

Needless to say, he was fucking surprised when the waiter stood next to the table where Derek Hale sat. 

They stared at each other for good two minutes, making the poor waiter rather uncomfortable. Then it all clicked in Stiles’ mind. Lydia had trolled him like a boss, and now he had a blind date with his ex. All because his best friend believed they were a match made in heaven. Well, if they were here, they may as well enjoy it. 

“So, hey there. Are you just as surprised as I am of seeing you, or do I have something in my face?” Stiles spoke while sitting down, just to break the silence. 

“I had no idea who Peter had set me up with.” Derek answered, still looking a bit disturbed. 

“Peter?” Stiles knew Derek’s uncle was a complete dumbass, capable of pulling something like this. “Lydia was the one to set me up.” 

That could only mean one thing, the two most devilish minds of Beacon Hills had finally decided to team up, humanity was lost. Derek huffed a laugh and Stiles realized he had been thinking out loud again. “Sorry, dude.” 

“It’s fine.” 

“No, I mean for your date to be me. I know you would never wish for this.” After all, Derek had already dumped him once. 

“It’s fine, Stiles. I'd rather have a date with you than some stranger.” 

Okay, Stiles may or may not have blushed to those words. Hell, he was a grown man, but it seemed anything Derek man said still went straight to his heart. Chuck, did Derek even had any idea how sexy and romantic that sounded? He really hoped he wasn’t thinking out loud this time, or things would get pretty awkward. He looked at Derek, but the man had the same blank expression as most times. 

“Let’s make them expend that money of theirs, then?” Stiles proposed, still a bit nervous. 

Derek smirked at him, and Stiles considered melting. 

Dinner was the most awkward and most amazing date he ever had. Derek still wasn’t much of a talker, but he seemed to enjoy hearing whatever Stiles babbled about. Well, and he was staring at his lips for most part of the dinner. They had the most expensive things they could possibly have, and ordered like three bottles of wine. They reminisced their years together, and stupid things that had happened in those almost fifteen years they hadn’t seen each other. Drunk!Stiles was even less capable of controlling his filter than sober Stiles, as evidence held.

“You and I know we are really into each other, and that Peter and Lydia booked a hotel room for us to sleep in. I totally think we should make use of it.” 

Derek looked at him in complete surprise, before smiling – yes, ladies and gentlemen, Derek Hale SMILED – and saying in the sexiest tone ever. 

“I bet we can’t even make into my car.” 

Stiles gasped for air and got up right away. Derek – the bastard – had the calm to make sure Lydia would pay for everything before moving, then even held Stiles’ hands whilst they were walking out of the place. Before he could even think, Derek leaned in closer and kissed him. Not a desperate, please-let’s-fuck-asap kiss, but a sincere one that was so much like how Stiles remembered it to be. He kissed back, leaning in closer to the other man. It was so perfect, this was too much like a freaking romantic comedy, he only wished their rating was not pg-13 because he needed the sex. As if reading his mind, Derek changed the rhythm of the kiss, making it much more intense. 

They literally stumbled until Stiles’ back hit something and he held Derek’s face with both his hands, feeling the older man’s hands grabbing his waist. He had wanted this for so damn long, he couldn’t actually tell if he had ever not wanted this in his whole life.  
The pressure of Derek’s body against his was magic, he would have probably gladly let Derek fuck him there and then. The only problem was that the guy from the restaurant had a different idea. 

“Excuse me, sir.” They parted at the voice, embarrassed, because yeah. They had acted like two hormone driven teenagers, Stiles wasn’t sure where he should put his face. 

“We’re leaving.” He end up blurting out, before pushing Derek away, only to pull him along while he walked down the where he knew his jeep was. 

“My car is to the other side…” 

“But mine is this way, and it’s a jeep, we can totally fuck in the backseat.” 

The older man seemed to approved the idea, since he pulled closer, but he whispered in his ear instead. “We both know that having sex in your jeep is a dumb idea.” 

Stiles laughed, totally remembering how hard it had been, to move, to fully enjoy it, since anytime anyone could find them. “Okay, can you wait until we get to the hotel, then?” He grinded their hips back, feeling Derek’s erection on his back and smirking. 

“Not if you continue like this.” The older man’s voice was so filled with lust and husky of desire that it made Stiles shiver – really, not joking, shiver – of anticipation. It took all of his will not to continue only to see where they would end up. Instead, he took a deep breath and walked to the driver’s side, trying to keep some focus. 

If you asked Stiles, the drive to the hotel took far too long. Especially since Derek stared at him like a wolf. And _man_ , those eyes would drive Stiles mad. When he finally arrived at the hotel, he jumped of the jeep and pushed his keys to the valet’s hand, not really giving a fuck anymore. He pulled Derek behind him to the reception desk, and Stiles really had to take a few deep breaths not to moan when he began kissing his neck. 

“We have a room booked in the name of Derek Hale.” 

The receptionist smiled coyly looking at them before checking on the computer. He used that time to turn his face and kiss his date a bit. Because he fucking could. He was smiling like a goof when the woman coughed and said.

“You have room 302. Please, enjoy your stay.” 

“Oh, we will, hon.” He couldn't resist answering, but at that Derek grabbed the key card from her hand almost growling and pulled him to the elevator. 

There were other people waiting for it, but everyone seemed to get that they needed the privacy. An old lady even smiled at him and whispered.

“Go and get him, boy.” 

When the doors opened, they entered and even while they were open Derek pressed Stiles against the wall, kissing, biting and sucking on his neck. He made a ‘thumbs up’ to said old lady because god he was drunk. The doors were closing when Derek grinded his hips closer and Stiles actually whimpered. He missed touch so freaking much; it was so warm he couldn’t believe this was real. When the doors opened again, it was harder to let go, but they did manage to stumble toward the bedroom and open the door before crashing their mouths again, just kissing the hell out of each other. In a move that was more dumb than bold, Stiles jumped and tangled his legs around Derek’s waist. When they were teens the older one used to hold him with no trouble, and he knew that hadn’t changed when he felt two strong hands gripping his thighs and keeping him in place.

He even broke the kiss just to say out loud. “Dude, you have no idea how hot this is.” 

“Stop. Calling. Me. Dude.” Derek said before kissing him again. 

His hands were everywhere; he needed to be sure this wasn’t just some sort of crazy wet dream, and please if anyone had the chance of touching all of those muscles they wouldn’t be giving it away. Especially if you had just been – for the third time in less than half an hour, fyi – pressed against a wall by said muscles. Derek’s hands moved to hold his cheeks and he moaned in the kiss, only to break it again and clutch at the back of Derek’s head.

“We can make out later; right now I need you to make me scream. And there are too many clothes involved for this to happen.” 

Derek smirked and took him to the bed; laying him there rather carefully and helping him take off his vest, t-shirt and shoes. Then, he just laid there moaning and enjoying as Derek freaking Hale kissed, bit and marked all of his pale chest. The way the beard felt against his skin was divine, by the way. Even as he proceeded to make hickeys all over Stiles’ skin, Derek was incredibly soft and gentle, and that was probably the thing he liked the most about the other man: that he looked like the was about to fuck you hard and restless, when actually he was all about worshiping the body before him. 

If his mind had been working better, he would have probably taken his turn to do the same with Derek, but right now he just freaking wanted this. To feel important and the center of someone’s life for a second. That until one of his nipples was sucked, and then he just damn moaned and tangled his fingers into the dark hair. God, it had been so long… He was hard and these jeans were getting too freaking tight for him. He dragged his hands down to the end of Derek’s shirt and pulled it off. Their eyes met for a while as their hands unbuckled and helped take off each other’s pants. Bot were more than obviously hard and lusting for each other. 

“Please tell me you got condom and lube, hand jobs are not an option.” 

Derek huffed a laugh and leaned away to open the night stand drawer, indeed finding said items. Then he sat back on his heels, pulling Stiles’ boxers off and throwing them somewhere else in an almost single movement. His firm hands held the younger man’s tights and spread them to get a good view of his rim. He seemed to be in consideration for a while, and the weird part? Stiles knew what he was thinking about, and it made his mouth dry. Because his date super had this oral fixation, his rimming was divine. It had been weird when they first started dating, and this happened and he had come only from the feeling of Derek’s tongue inside him. It had been so amazing. And he was really looking forward to a re-run of that show. However, Derek seemed to have different ideas as one of his lubed fingers was put to use. The feeling was weird, especially since the only fingers that had been there in a while had been Stiles' own. It didn’t took him much to relax, Derek knew what he was doing. Oh, he sure did. Soon, another finger was in, thrusting while searching for his sweet spot. All Stiles could do was gasp and pray that they didn’t take too long in prep. 

When one more finger entered it was slightly uncomfortable, the angle a bit different now, going deeper than when Stiles did it to himself. And when the fingers finally brushed his prostrate, his grip to the sheets turned into clutching. 

“Come on, Der…” He whined. Somewhere in his mind he knew he shouldn’t be calling Derek like that, but this felt so amazing and his head was too light. “Just fuck me already.” He asked, getting himself up on his elbows to whisper it on his ear. “I can take it. I’m not breakable.” 

“I bet you can.” Was the answer, and he pulled his fingers off. Stiles almost whimpered, feeling the loss. Before he could actually speak, though, he heard the sound of a ripping package. Stiles fell back to the bed, watching as the older man put on the condom and guided himself in. His movements were slow, and the pressure in the beginning was a bit much. It had been so long, but it felt just perfect deep down. It was surely because of his drunken state, but as he tried not to moan whilst Derek completely entered him, he touched the other man’s cheek. Caressing it with his thumb and just staring deep down in those green eyes. 

He felt the movement begun, slow and gentle. How the fuck was a man that strong and testosterone-filled so soft and careful? Not that Stiles was really complaining, he was overthinking things a tad when he felt the pace grow steadier and stronger, even if still incredibly gentle. He hooked his arms around Derek’s neck and pulled him to a kiss, slow as Derek continued thrusting. They kept at it until they couldn’t kiss anymore because their breathing became too erratic and they were moaning almost non-stop, really free for the first time. Eventually Derek gave in and started thrusting harder and harder. All Stiles could do was gasp and whine, especially after the older man’s hand creeped between their bodies and started jerking him off. 

His hand was perfect, everything was so damn perfect, so amazing he couldn’t even think too much. He wouldn’t last very long if things continued like this, which he expected they did. And, God, they did. He almost screamed when he came, not even a tiny bit ashamed. It took a while more for Derek to come along, but when he did, he buried his face on the crook of Stiles' neck. 

It took a while for them to recover, or at least for Derek to move out and remove the condom, throwing it out afterwards. Before coming back to bed, Stiles wanted to talk, he wanted to make sure this wasn’t going to be something they would regret in the morning. However, all he could say was, “I sort missed you, Derek.” 

And he wasn’t even sure the other man was awake when he did so. 

-M- 

Derek woke up with a weak headache and feeling an uncommon warmth next to him. 

He opened his eyes, staring first at a ceiling he knew not to be his own. He remembered the previous night, maybe not every detail, but he didn’t need to look to know the source of the heat. Even so, he did it, and was made speechless by the sight of Stiles sleeping on his side, body pressed against Derek’s arm. He felt the urge to touch that face, to wake him up with a kiss. That would have been too romantic and cheesy for him, though. Stiles was deeply asleep, and the kiss stuff probably wouldn’t even work. So, instead of doing anything, he just remained there, looking at him. Derek would have never imagined he would see Stiles asleep by his side ever again, which only made him happier. It didn’t matter if his heart had been broken by said man, all that mattered was that, right now, he had Stiles back. 

He wasn’t even sure if this was a thing, though. They hadn’t exactly talked the previous night. Derek wanted to talk, he wanted to make sure he wasn’t the only one that had missed this, _them_.

God, he could practically see Jackson rolling his eyes at him. This was so pathetic. He was so pathetic. Stiles probably only wanted sex, not that they couldn’t be friends, Derek would be happy anyway. Kids changed things, after all. Oh my god, his kids! They were alone with Peter! God, he had to go home and make sure he still had an uncle – his children would totally bake Peter for breakfast. However, he couldn’t leave before talking to Stiles. It had been the lack of conversation after sex that lead to them never really being boyfriends in High School, he wouldn’t commit the same mistake twice. 

“Stiles? Wake up.” He called, kissing the younger man’s lips and moving to rest a hand on his hip. There was no answer, though, so he shook the body a little. “Come on, wake up.” There was a slight mumble, and Stiles rolled to the other side, turning his back on Derek. The older man rolled his eyes and sighed, then hugged his date from behind and kissed his body all the way from his ear to the end of the shoulder. Stiles actually chuckled, and that gave Derek an amazing idea. This might be something childish, but come on, it was him and Stiles, he had all the right to be childish. So he tickled. 

The young man woke up laughing and trying to push him away, shouting that he was a cheater whilst laughing. Derek laughed too and straddled the young man, continuing to tickle. Eventually Stiles' face was flushed and he was barely able to keep breathing, so Derek stopped and leaned in, kissing him briefly. “Good morning, Stiles.” 

Stiles had just stopped laughing, but continued smiling. “I’m glad you’re still here.” 

“You shouldn’t be.”

“Well, you used to leave right after sex.” Stiles was most definitely bitter about this.

Derek considered being angry, or just leaving already, but somewhere in the back of his mind he heard Paige saying: ‘Use your words, Derek! I can’t guess what you're feeling. Please, talk to me.’ And he did something he never would have been capable of before, he told Stiles his reasons. “You kicked me out the first time, so I guessed you didn’t want me over.”

The young man looked kind of shocked at first, then facepalmed and laughed. “God, we are damn good at miscommunication. We should probably win an award over it.” 

Derek kissed Stiles’ hand and pulled it away from his face, looking deep into those eyes. “So let’s try our best not to be so good at it, next time.” 

The other man gulped and stared at his lips. “Yep, totally can do that. Wait, next time? There will be other times?” Derek frowned at those words.

“Yes, why? You don’t want it?” 

Stiles held his face between his hands and kissed Derek. “Of course I want it! By the City Council, I want it! Dude, you’re like the Carlos to my Cecil, though I guess we’re more like Kirk and Spock.”

“Hum? Who are Cecil and Carlos, and why the hell would we be like Kirk and Spock?” 

“Oh my god, don’t say you don’t ship Spirk.” 

Derek was seriously starting to believe he had just agreed to date a teenager. 

-Y-

Danny wondered why the hell he was friends with Jackson an unhealthy amount of his time. Like, there was no real reason why he did it. The other teen was the new kid, but acted like he had always been the popular one – which of course led to people disliking him more than they dislike Harris (okay, maybe just as much as they disliked Harris). But even with all the pose, Danny hung out with the other boy, and actually liked him a lot.

“I’m so pissed! Why didn’t he tell us sooner? I mean, I have the right to know if the man my mom was with for thirteen years is bisexual.”

“No, you don’t. It’s his sex life, and please Jacks you don’t even call the man dad. You’re not allowed to make demands.” Danny hated having to be the one to tell the ugly truths to Jackson, but someone must.

“The thing is, I’m not allowed to have any secrets, but he keeps something like that from me.” The goalie had noticed, though, that his friend was more afraid of the possibility of his father (because everyone knew Jackson loved Derek as his dad) forgetting their mother than anything else. Danny himself would be worried – as his dad was dating someone too -, but well, no one could remain a widower forever. Besides, he was pretty sure anyone would be ultimately scared by the seven kids. 

“Okay, let’s change the subject. Do you wanna go to Jungle tonight? I want to clear my head and maybe have good time.” He was already expecting the no, his friend never went to the nightclub with him. Always saying "he liked boobs" – no matter how much Danny said that, with that attitude, no way Jacks would even get anyone. 

“Yeah, I do. We can go with the Porsche.” The jock closed his locker door and turned to him. “Just remember to control yourself, because I’ll be drinking.” And smirked, as full of himself as always. 

Danny rolled his eyes and followed Hale out to the hallway. “I told you one thousand times, you’re not my type, Jackson.” Because, yeah, Jackson was hot and Danny would totally tap that, but Jackson was his friend and a major dick sometimes. Danny liked handsome boys, but he also liked people by their personality. And that was all his father’s fault, if he hadn’t taught his kids to choose who they were going to date by what they had inside, he would have already had something with the other boy. 

“The first line tests are today. You gonna try, right, Jackson?” 

They had been training a lot ever since they met, because Jackson refused to stay in the bench. Finstock had only made things worse, since he mentioned that Derek, Peter, Laura and every damn Hale to attend Beacon Hills High School had been the star of their team (Derek and Peter of basketball, Laura of boxing, and Talia of the female basketball) and now Jackson felt he had to be the star of the Lacrosse team. Even if Lacrosse was not the main sport in Beacon Hills – it was still basketball, but the coach tried to make this the new thing. “There is no other option, Danny.” 

They entered the locker room, people looked at them and one or two had the will to make the comment. “What a cutie couple of fags we have here.” 

“Can you sit down, Hale? Or did Stinlinski went too hard on you last night?”

His friend turned to him, annoyed as fuck and pointed the finger at their faces. “Fuck you, and you. Actually, go fuck each other.” Before turning to grab Danny by the wrist and drag him to the end of the locker room. Things had been a lot different ever since they had become friends, people had stopped bullying him so much and actually shut the hell up when told to. 

They changed their clothing into the uniform and picked up their sticks just as Finstock entered the room, already shouting to everyone. 

“Hey, you fuckers! Get your asses down here. Tonight, some of you will try to take the spot that was left vacant by Greenberg.” He was staring right at Jackson when the older man spoke up, Danny hated every second of this, people always took sports too damn serious. His dad would have complained, if he didn’t have the thing he had with Lacrosse (he had been on the first bench when the team was created). 

They picked up the things and walked out of the room, towards the field. 

Danny gave one last look to his friend, who was staring focused ahead. He tried too hard, and Danny wanted to make sure his friend wouldn’t get disappointed if he failed. 

“Good luck, Jacks.” 

His friend looked back at him and smirked. “I don’t need any luck, I’m good.” 

Danny rolled his eyes, he wouldn’t be the goalie in this game. Because Finstock didn’t want to take any chances of people saying that Jackson had just gotten into the first line because of Danny had been the one to catch the balls. He sat on the bench and watched as the test begun, hoping everything would be okay. 

Because seeing your best friend cry is never a good and pleasant feeling.

-O- 

Stiles was sitting next to his father on the couch, rewatching that Mortal Kombat film that absolutely sucked. Anyway, the Sheriff loved it, and Stiles was trying to get into his father’s good side. John had been very bitchy about everything ever since he discovered his son was seeing someone. Stiles couldn’t even imagine how he would react when he found out the person in question was Derek Hale. Well, they had not had a date ever since that night, but they met when the kids were at school, talked on the phone, and texted each other. All that cute couple-like things that made him so happy and excited, almost like a freaking puppy. 

His kids were all over the house. Kira was reading a Japanese mythology book to the twins while they waited for the cookies Stiles had made to bake. Scotty was in a real sour mode – Isaac hadn’t gone to class today, and no matter how many times everyone told him his friend was probably just feeling sick, he wouldn’t calm down. 

The door went open and Allison came in stomping, followed by Danny.

“What happened?” Stiles asked, turning to watch whilst his daughter actually picked up a knife and stabbed her volleyball. “Ey, ey, don’t do that.” He jumped the back of the couch and huriedly came to her side to grab her wrist and take the knife away. “Violence doesn’t solve anything.” 

“I’m not playing this stupid game again. I suck at it, just as I sucked in painting, and taking photos and poetry.” She was clearly pissed, looking down, her face covered by her curls. Stiles touched her shoulder, conforting as he could. 

“I’m sure you’ll find something you’re good at.” 

“I know what I’m good at, Dad! I’m a good archer!” 

And once again they were having this talk, all because he didn’t want any of his kids doing any sort of ‘sports’ that could kill someone. God, he didn’t know why his daughter couldn’t take this idea of her mind. If she wanted to take on boxing, he would be fine with that, his problem was that bows were a weapon! “Sorry, Allison, but we already had this talk.” 

She didn’t scream at him, she didn’t say she hated him and wished he would die. His daughter was not that kind of teenager, but sometimes he trully wondered if that was such a good thing. His girl just turned on her heels and walked to her bedroom. She was so different from Heather, that if he didn’t know they were mother and daughter, he would say they had no relation whatsoever. If Stiles ever tried to say to Heather that it was useless to have a conversation again, she would have given him a nasty look and arched her eyebrow. ‘Why is that, Stiles? Afraid I’m going to debunk all of your arguments?’ He missed someone to fight to and have serious discussions with, he missed the rolling eyes and the ‘Shut up, Stiles.’ Maybe that’s what he missed the most about Derek, the fact he wasn’t afraid of fighting and not being polite. Because relationships are about feeling comfortable, right? 

“Dad!” He heard Scott calling and realized the boy had been by his side – along with Danny –, probably calling him for some time. 

“What is it, kiddo?” 

“Danny just said Jackson didn’t show up to school today, and that he isn’t picking up his phone. Can we go check on them now?” And there it was, the puppy face. Stiles rolled his eyes and looked up at Danny, who looked like a freaking puppy as well. 

“Fuck, okay, you win. We can go there. Let me just call Derek first.” 

Scott jumped of happiness and ran upstairs, mumbling something about having to pick up some toys for Isaac. Danny leaned in closer and whispered, teasing his father. 

“Derek? You’re first name basis with Jackson’s dad?”

Stiles smirked, and whispered to his son in answer, as he picked up his cellphone to call the other father. “Oh, Danny-boy, I’m away beyond third base with Der-bear.” And huffed a laughed to the shocked look in his son’s face. He pressed the number in his contact list (tagged under ‘Der-GrumpyWolf-Bear’ because he could), but there was no answer, and that worried Stiles. 

He tried once more, but it went to voicemail again. He continued trying and trying, and not succeeding. Stiles knew better than to be this stressed about it, but all he could think about was that Heather hadn’t answered any of his calls that day. People died when you least expected them to. And thats why he picked up the car keys the minute Scott entered the kitchen again.

“Let’s go, buddy.” He turned to his father. “Dad, can you watch the kids? I’ll take Scott and Danny to check on their friends.” 

“Fine, tell Derek I still have the shotgun.” 

The young man laughed before walking to his jeep. Scott and Danny right behind him, all three of them concerned about one of the Hale men. 

It would have been funny if he wasn’t so nervous. 

-M- 

That morning, Derek had been woken by Isaac’s voice. 

“Dad! Please, wake up!” The boy was crying and shaking his father in pure desperation. 

The man sat up on the bed at once in worry, looking promptly at his son who wouldn’t stop crying. “What is it, Isaac?” 

“It is Erica, dad. She’s bleeding!” The boy shouted and cried more and more. 

Derek felt the grip of fear in his heart, all he could think of was the day he woke up and his wife was throwing up blood, so weak she couldn’t even get up to go to the bathroom. No, not his baby girl, it couldn’t be happening again, they didn’t deserve to go through all that again. He got out of bed and ran to Erica's and Isaac’s room, the boy following him close by. The kid was still babbling, probably trying to explain how he had found his sister bleeding, but his father was not paying much attention in his mad rush. Mere seconds (which seemed like hours) later, he entered the room and saw his daughter on the bed, still asleep, and the bloodstain he spotted made him smile in utter relief and just hug her tight.

His daughter wasn’t dying, she'd just had her first period. 

“Thank God.” 

By now, Isaac had come in as well, with Cora and Jackson on his heels, both alarmed. The younger girl tugged at his arm, and he turned to look at her. 

“Dad? Is Erica okay?” 

All his kids were looking at him in expectation, he felt his older daugther moving in his arms as she now pushed him, looking confused.

“Yes, Cora. Everything is fine. It’s just something that happens to all girls.” 

He had completely forgotten this would happen to his girls. After Paige had died, this domestic and ordinary things simply slipped through the cracks of his mind. God, he didn’t have any tampons here for her, the mattress was probably unrepairably stained too. Never in his life had Derek thought he would have to have the menstruation talk with Erica - yes, he had an older sister, but had learned nothing from her experience besides the slight envy he had the day she got her first period (because everyone was giving her chocolates and flowers). No one explained to him back them, he had been utterly confused for days until his sister noticed that and sat him down on his bedroom’s floor to explain somewhat. 

Jackson sighed from behind and got closer. “Isaac and Cora, you two brats should go back to bed.”

“But I’m not sleepy!” His youngest answered, in more volume than necessary. 

“I wanna stay with Erica.” Isaac said, dead serious. 

Erica, now a little more aware of her surroundings, hid her face on the crook of her father’s neck, still sleepy and obviously embarrassed. He was about to explain to the two young one’s why they couldn’t stay there when his older son decided to be helpful. 

“I’ll make some chocolate cake for Erica, I need your help.” 

This scene was a bit surreal, considering Jackson hadn’t cooked anything since his mother died, but it seemed to convince the two young ones. The younger boy whispered to his older sister, patting her shoulder.

“You’ll be fine, I’m sure Dad will take care of you.”

And they left the room. When he heard the door closing, it was his time to talk to Erica. 

“You should get up so I can take these sheets off.”

She did as she was told, not giving any of the usual witty answers, which worried Derek all over again. She just stood there after he put her on her feet, looking small on her purple pajamas (that were terribly stained) and starring at the floor. The man pulled the sheets off the mattress and tossed them aside, then sighed, running his fingers through his hair. 

“Sorry, Dad...” Erica's voice broke the silence and he turned to her, kneeling to her level and holding her shoulder’s. “ You shouldn’t be sorry or ashamed of this. Okay, kiddo? This is all completly natural, and no big deal, really. You'll just take a good bath and I’ll get you some tampons. Everything will be fine.” 

Her round brown eyes looked in his and she nodded. 

“Okay, Dad.”

He mussled her hair a little, then helped her go into his bedroom and filled the tub. She took a deep breath and looked at him. “Can you go and pick my medicine? I don’t think I’ll be sleeping again.” 

“Of course, Erica.” He kissed her forehead before leaving the room. He took the pills and left them in his bed. 

The alarm on his watch rang and he punched it. There better be a pharmacy open, because his daughter needed tampons. 

-Y- 

“Can I ring the doorbell?” Scott asked looking at him and smiling.

“Yep, go ahead.” He shouldn’t be nervous, everything was probably okay. He only said that because the Camaro was by the driveway, or else he would have called the hospital. 

Not longer after the doorbell sounded, the front door was opened. Derek looked tired and was wearing only some flannel pants that should be illegal because they gave all kinds of dirty thoughts. Stiles was pretty sure he saw Danny’s mouth open up a bit at the unexpected sight.

“Stiles?” 

“Yeah, me and my kids. It’s just they were worried about your kids not going to school today and you didn’t take any of my calls, so I got a bit worried. Since you seem to be fine perhaps we should go back home.” Before I decide to jump on you, because damn, you're hot as hell, Derek. 

“I wanna see Isaac!” Scott complained, staring menacingly at Derek, which was really adorable.

“He’s in the living room with the rest of the kids.” His younger son didn’t need to be told twice and was already running inside. Derek only sighed. “My daughter menstruated today, and we were not ready for it.” 

Stiles almost laughed, but he knew he shouldn’t. The thought of Derek being like this because his girl had a period was just too amusing. Poor dude probably didn’t have any idea of what to do. Stiles had been hella lost when Kira had had the first period, but luckily he had 0800-call-Lydia-queen-of-the-world to help out. Danny went inside then, giving a quick smile to the older man. 

“She’s in pain, Stiles. And I can’t do shit! She can’t take pills for it, they might kill her or god knows what. The chocolate works a little and I don’t know what else to do. Laura has a date so she couldn’t come by and help me. And I don’t wanna call my mom, she has too much in her mind.” 

Stiles had never actually met Talia Hale, since he wasn’t really dating Derek back in their teen years, but the woman had been the prossecutor of Beacon Hills for over twenty years, and was literally so kickass that not a single one of her substitutes ever got close to her awesomeness, she was a freaking myth. Obviously she had too much on her mind, like being awesome. Stiles’ mom used to be a fan of hers, he may have inhereted the fangirllism. Right now, though, he had to worry about this girl. 

“I’ll help. No one has cramps worst than Allison’s.” He walked into the house, stealing a quick kiss from Derek on his way to the living room. 

The children had found themselves in some sort of organization by then. Jackson was trying to make a blonde girl eat some chocolate, to which she seemed really rellutant. Scott and Isaac were rolling on the floor like happy puppies. Danny was rolling his eyes next to his friend and beside the blonde girl – who Stiles was assuming to be Erica – there was a even younger one with dark hair and a wolf plushie. He walked until he was facing Erica and mustered his calm-as-Yoda voice.

“Hey there, Erica. I’m sorry to drop by like this, my name is Stiles.” 

“What the hell is a Stiles?” She asked, obviously in pain and pissed. He swore he almost saw her hissing at him. 

“I’m a Stiles. And I think I can solve your problem with cramps, will you let me try?” 

“Go ahead. This hurts like they are fucking cutting me in two.” She pulled the younger girl closer and her sister went along, closing her eyes and whispering. “You’re real strong, sis.” 

There was a total different vibe in this house, they were grieving still. If he could help in any way, he would. 

 

Stiles never felt so proud of his fatherly skills as he did when Erica Hale said he was her hero. She clutched the hot gel bag against her stomach, closing her eyes and relaxing. Derek smiled and thanked him, and Stiles wondered if he should leave now, but Danny and Jackson were outside practicing lacrosse, and Isaac and Scott were begging to watch Wreck-it Ralph (requested that was backed up by the younger Hale girl, Cora). 

“Please, Dad.” Isaac whined, giving Derek a puppy dog face that probably matched Scott’s.

“If Stiles is okay with that.” He turned to look at Stiles, arching his eyebrows in a gesture that was so Derek-ish it made him smile. 

“No problema.” 

The two boys cheered and promptly took the remote control, putting it on Netflix. 

 

-O- 

Derek had not even noticed he was still wearing his pajamas until he entered the pharmacy earlier that morning, barefoot and annoyed. The cashier stared at him and so did an old lady that seemed to be talking to said girl. He decided to ignore them and go straight for what he had gone there for. Those damn colofurl packages of tampons – really, why was there need to make everything so colorful? Why the fuck did he have to pay for this? Fuck, how could there be so many types of these things? How was he supposed to know which one he should take? He couldn’t remember the ones Paige used to buy (mostly because they were none of his bussiness back then). He scowled at the hundreds of packages, wondering if he should just buy one of each. He tried calling Laura for the thousandth time, but it went straight to voicemail. She had said she would sleep in her new boyfriend’s place, the traitor. 

“Excuse me, son. Do you need some help?” He turned his gaze to meet the old woman suddenly right next to him. 

He didn’t like accepting help from strangers, but right now this wasn’t about him, it was about his baby girl back home. “Actually, yes. I have no idea which one of those.” He gestured to the tampons. “I should buy.” 

“Who is it for?” She asked, smiling.

“My eleven year-old. It was her first today...” He was so helpless when it came to this kind of things. 

“Oh, I see.” The woman started picking up a bunch of them and giving them to him. “You will have to buy some types. It will take a while before she actually starts having some regularity, and you don’t want her being caught off guard. These should be enough. Will you buy some pills in case she has cramps?”

“I can’t. She takes other pills and it would be dangerous.” He was so tired and so worried. Fuck. “Thanks anyway.” He gave the best polite smile he could manage before walking to the cashier and putting all the packages before her. The woman gave him the smallest smile and whispered.

“I wished my old man would do something like this.” 

He didn’t answer, but when he was on his way back to the car he noticed she had slipped a candy bar into the plastic bag. A tiny bit of his faith in humanity was restored after that. 

There rest of it was when he arrived home to find Jackson resting his back on the bedroom's doorframe talking to Erica. 

“I’m telling you, all of my girlfriends used to eat like tons of chocolate when they had their period.”

“I don’t even like chocolate that much.” The girl answered from the tub.

“Look, Erica! I’m a shark!” Derek heard Cora shouting, and them came a splash of water and giggles. 

It may have been somewhat masochistic and creepy of him, but in that moment he wished he could freeze that second of happiness and domesticity, because damn, he missed this more than he would care to admit. 

Now, seeing his and Stiles kids and standing by the man himself, he thought peraphs moments like that could make part of his life from now on.

-M-

Some minutes into the movie, Stiles leaned in closer to the older man and whispered. “Can we go upstairs?” 

Derek frowned, but ended up nodding anyway. They moved silently, trying their best not to get their kids' attention, sneaking like young lads trying to have a moment of privacy. Somewhere along the way, Stiles held his hand and caressed the back of it with his thumb. Once on the upper hallway Derek chanced a few words.

“You have no idea how thankful I am for your help, Stiles.” 

“You don’t have to make a big deal out of it, Derek. You look wrecked, it would have to be the meaniest of human beings to just walk away without helping.”

“Do I look that bad?” Derek asked when they were finally standing in front of his bedroom’s door. Stiles just smirked and cupped his face between his hands. 

“And still, you look like the hottest man I have ever seen.” And he kissed Derek, slowly and gently, because roughing up such a disheveled creature would just be cruel. Derek clasped his shoulders, being really soft and adorable. Stiles broke the kiss after a while and smiled. “Now lay on that bed, Derek. I’ll give you a massage.” 

“You don’t need too.”

“I want to.” 

Derek sighed and walked to his bed, laying on his stomach. Stiles closed the door (mostly because if things escalated from a simple massage, he didn’t want his kids or Derek’s walking in). He took off his shoes and stradled the other man, massaging his shoulders and back. The triskelion tatoo was still there (he still remembered how it had been hard for him to go with Derek that day). Man, how tense could a person be? Derek felt like pure stone, made all of knots under his fingers. Never in Stiles’ life had he felt someone so stiff, and that considering he used to massage his dad after harsh work days. 

“Mnnn... This hurts...” Derek complained from underneath him, but only half-heartedly. 

“You’ll feel amazing afterwards, like a new person.” He said, continuing what he was doing. 

The sounds Derek was making were damn erotic, and it really took all of Stiles not to do anything sexual about it. Even so, he felt a sick pleasure knowing he was the one to make those noises come out of Derek’s mouth. When he was done (half an hour later, give or take), Stiles was hard and wanting the other man so much. Before he could do much, though, he was laying on his back on the bed, with Derek hoovering over him and smiling. 

“You’re too good, Stiles.” There were kisses along his jawline and hands unbuttoning his jeans. “I’ll make sure to make you feel good too.” 

Stiles didn’t try to talk him out of whatever he was planning, not when his clothes were pushed down enough for his cock to be set free. He bit his lower lip, trying to remain silent when the warm hands started touching him in slow and steady movements. He closed his eyes and let his head fall back a bit. The pressure and the warmth were so perfect that he didn’t notice Derek had moved until he felt his erection being covered by something warm and wet and perfect. He couldn’t contain the pleasured gasp this time. 

Derek bobbed his head up and down, his tongue dragging heavenly. How could someone who had been so many years with a woman still be able to suck a dick that well? Derek was too perfect to be human, Stiles was probably dating an AI projected to dominate the earth. And well, if he did that thing with his tongue again, Stiles would totally let him do whatever he wanted. His hands tangled themselves in the dark hair, but he didn’t pull, only focusing on keeping his voice down and not fucking Derek’s mouth. 

“Please... Der... I can’t... I’ll scream... “ He uttered between moans, having to police not to whine when Derek moved his mouth away and went back to touching him. The older man leaned over and kissed him, swallowing his moans. Stiles felt pretty helpless like this, but a good kind of helpless. He could totally feel his orgasm building up, and pulled Derek closer, making sure the scream he wanted to make when he came was trapped inside their mouths. 

He came all over Derek’s stomach and his own tshirt, but it actually took him a while to notice that, taking the time to just lay there boneless and delighted, receiving small kisses all over his face. Some moments later, looking at him like he was the most precious thing in the world, Derek whispered. “I wish I could see you everyday.”

“Well," he answered, because brain-to-mouth filters where overrated. "We could move in together, my seven kids and my dad plus your four will easily fit anywhere.” He was a bit sarcastic, but that was their truth. 

Derek stared at him with those damn perfect green eyes and caressed his face, tracing the moles against the pale skin. “I know this may sound rushed, but if I found the place, would you live with me, Stiles?” 

At that he was left speechless. This was definitely not what he had been expecting as an answer. Upon his silence, the older man seemed to regret his words, moving away a bit. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.” 

Stiles was desperate for a second and he held on to Derek’s shoulders somewhat frantically, looking at him in the eye. 

“I was just caught off guard. Of course I would live with you, Derek!” And he laughed of happiness, pulling the older man to a hug, Derek hid his face on the crook of the his neck, full body laugh accompaining the gesture. 

They should have done this years ago. No way Stiles would ever lose Derek again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being together will be awesome! Right? Right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here comes the second! Thank Chuck, Norris e Freeman.

When Derek found the house, he was pretty sure this was some sort of heavenly sign that he would get to be truly and completely happy for once. The house was up on a hill just outside town, similar to the one his parents had on the other side of town, but still very different somehow. It had eight bedrooms and two floors, and needed a good painting to be perfect, but he would bet that if he convinced the kids to help them they could finish this in no time. Stiles was now walking around the empty living room, smiling and pointing where they could put random things once they moved in.

“We'll definitely keep your couch, but my dad’s armchair is going to have to come too, and probably that loveseat. Your TV is better than ours, but we’re so bringing the videogames.” The young man was so genuinely excited about this that it was contagious. He turned to face Derek and grinned. 

The woman that was showing them the place seemed to be amused by their happiness and relationship. He sighed and walked towards his boyfriend (it was weird to finally think of Stiles like this), holding his hand and arching his eyebrows. “Is the place approved, then?”

“100% approved.” He gave a peck on Derek’s lips and picked up his cellphone to take a bunch of pictures. “My dad will want to see if the place is worth the investment.” The idea of the Sheriff coming to live with them was still a bit weird (Derek couldn’t help to feel that there would be a shotgun pushed against his back all the time Stiles wasn’t looking), but he wouldn’t ever complain about this. John was a good man, and he cared a lot about his son. 

Stiles bit his lower lip and looked down for a second, before glancing up and smiling. “So, we’re really doing this?” 

Derek nodded in answer. “Yes, we are.” This didn’t feel like a hard decision, he would have gladly started living with Stiles from that day a while back in his bedroom. However, being an adult came with responsibilities, and they couldn’t move if the house wasn’t big enough for all the kids. “We need to tell them.” The only ones that knew they were planning this were the Sheriff, Lydia and Peter. The couple was waiting until it was official before telling their children, not wanting to create expectations and later not be able to fulfill them. 

“Well, it’s Kira’s birthday next Saturday, and we are having a party at my soon-to-be-old-house.” 

“Are you inviting me?”

“And your kids. Since we’ll be family from now own, they might as well start hanging around more.”

Derek huffed a laugh. He was sure if Scott and Isaac spent any more time they would never let go of each other again. Danny and Isaac were very close too, and Derek was suspecting -hoping - his older son was becoming increasingly easier to deal with. 

“I’ll think about it.” He was definitely going to the party, but admitting would make Stiles realize how much power he had over Derek - which was too much for comfort, to be sincere. 

The artist smiled and kissed him again, this time sliding a hand to his hips and whispering. “You’re not convincing anyone with that sour face.” He grinned impish and turned to face the woman. “We’re buying it.” 

She seemed overjoyed – not many people would want to buy a place like this, after all – and promptly shook their hands. “I’ll prepare the papers, and everything should be ready by Monday for you to sign and move in.”

 

-M- 

 

Kira wasn’t really excited about her birthday. It's not like it was going to be anything but a family party - she wasn’t really friends with anyone at school, and basically just invited Braeden (that was her lab partner), that creepy boy Matt (even if she only did so because Allison said that would be the polite thing to do) and Malia (she was kind of nice and Kira really wanted to be friends with her). When Scott’s and Jackson’s friends showed up, she was okay with that.

What she was not expecting, though, was this whole after party dinner. And she was definitely not expecting her father’s speech. 

“So, you all little aliens must be wandering why on the seven hells we decided to have this dinner, with all of you. No, it was not for the sake of torture. It’s just that, like you know, I’ve been dating, but as you _don’t_ know, I’ve been dating Derek.” Every person at the table stared at Derek, who didn’t even move an eyebrow. His kids were all unfazed, so Kira assumed they already knew. A little bit of a heads up would have been nice. 

“That means Isaac will be my brother?!” Scott asked, obviously excited about the possibility, kneeling on his chair and smiling so openly she ended up smiling too. 

“Yes. Isaac will be your brother, all of the Hales are now family for us and we are family for them.” 

“Yeah!” Her baby brother hugged his new brother so tight it must have hurt, though little Isaac returned it with just as much gusto.

Kira then looked at the three other Hale kids. Jackson and Danny exchanged a glance (Allison would so loose their bet, they were totally dating), the blonde girl seemed annoyed (Kira was not sure how she felt about her), and the younger girl just looked at them all and whispered without much subtlety. “They are weird, dad.” Big surprise, the girl's family was so conventional that obviously she would find them odd. 

Allison had a smug look on her face, which was not a surprise. It was like a personal achievement, you were only a Stilinski once someone called you weird and you remained unfazed (one day you may even reach Dad’s level – smile and say “Yeah, I’m fucking weird, got a problem?”). 

Derek sighed and ran his finger through her hair, answering so softly Kira couldn’t hear what he was saying. Kira glanced at her granddad, who was closer to the two, but the older man only shook his head instead of helping out. She pouted and looked down.

“Now, the biggest news.” He tugged Derek’s shoulder and the older man got up, seeming somewhat embarrassed - this one would be so easy... “We're moving in together!” He exclaimed, beaming wider than humanly possible. Next to him, Derek had a tiny soft smile going on, which was kind of offensive. He was dating her absolutely awesome dad! He should look more thankful, should be happy Stiles even wanted anything to do with him anyway. 

While she lost herself on those thoughts the complaints around the table multiplied. You couldn’t just tell a bunch of teenagers that they were moving together and wait for it to go okay. 

“Come on, is going to be fun!” Stiles said smiling. “We’ll do the paint job tomorrow, and move in next weekend. Boyd is coming by to help us.”

She was glad her brother was showing up, maybe he could help them put some sense into their dad’s mind. The blonde girl was still shooting Kira and her family judgy looks, and Derek rolled his eyes at her before addressing everyone. “I hope that you guys get along. And I hope you accept us into your family, just as we’ll accept you into ours.” He really had a beautiful smile, now that he finally gave them one, and she did smile back. Her dad seemed ultraproud he got his boyfriend to say something and pulled him to a kiss. She was glad they were happy, but not so thrilled about the additional siblings. Isaac was nice, but he wasn’t worth Jackson or the smirky girl. 

 

-Y- 

 

Stiles was really excited this morning. He woke up before the cellphone alarm and actually got to change his clothes (into something that could be stained and he wouldn’t mind it). He went downstairs skipping steps and started cooking while singing ‘Almost There’ – because it was right on the mood for this moment of his life. He made cookies and cake (he would take them with him so the kids would have something to eat throughout the day). Some minutes into it, Scott came running downstairs and jumped on him like a puppy. 

“Good morning, Daddy! We are going to paint everything today!” Scott kissed his cheek a few more times and went back to the floor, walking around singing off-key with his dad. 

“Yes, we are going to do the painting today.” He smiled openly and got cereals and milk for his son. “What are you doing up this early?” 

“You said we were leaving when everyone woke up, and meeting Isaac’s family at the new house.” Scott answered in a rush before picking up a spoonful of cereal that was too big for his mouth and spilling the milk in result. Stiles huffed a laugh and found some chocolate to make a hot cocoa for him – he obviously couldn’t deal with coffee right now. He then took his cellphone and decided that he should totally text Derek, just to make sure he was awake and hadn’t given up on this thing since the last time they talked (which had been the previous night, but anything could've happened, right?). 

‘Up yet?’ He sent and waited for the answer. 

It took a while but he got a beep just as his son finished eating the cereal. _‘Unfortunately. Isaac is so excited he woke everyone up five am.’_ Stiles smiled and replied probably faster than he should. _‘Same with Scott, he’s up and jumping’_. He smiled to the screen and – after finishing the hot cocoa and pouring it in his Green Lantern cup – went upstairs to kick the rest of his kids out of bed. 

He jumped on Kira’s bed first, shouting on her ear. “GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!” And then proceeded to go from bed to bed, poking and giggling and singing whatever off-key. 

Danny cursed him and rolled over, covering his head with the pillow and trying to remain asleep. Kira actually sat up (she probably had been reading and not really sleeping) and stretched, her smile was wide and she didn’t seem completely miserable. Allison, though, looked at him like she was planning murder, so he sat on his daughter’s bed and ran his fingers through her messy hair.

“What is it, my sweetheart?” 

“I don’t think we should move in with them.” And that was what he had been afraid of hearing, he knew his kids would have some resistance. It was not like Derek’s family or parenting was any similar to his, but he wanted so much to at least try this. 

“Why not?” 

“Mom always used to say how this Derek guy left you behind and made you suffer, like he was the one person she didn’t ever want you to see again because you would go back to him no matter how much he hurt you back them.” Her voice was low as she spoke and he was thankful that Scott didn’t seem to hear. The boy could easily be impressed by his beloved sister’s words – just like she had been by her mother’s for the look of things. He pulled her close and Allison hid her face on his chest. 

“Can you please give them a chance? Heather hated Derek for her own reasons. I’m not saying I’m the best judge or that he didn’t do anything to hurt me back them, but your mom also did stuff that hurt me a lot when I was with her. For the Glow Cloud, that’s part of being in a relationship, hurting who you love and regretting it. We can talk more about this later, okay? Now, it’s too early for serious talks and just in time for breakfast.” He tried to cheer her up a bit, placing a light kiss on her forehead before getting up. 

“On the move, kiddos. You don’t want to make those grumpy wolves wait.” He said before leaving them to dress themselves. He had to wake the twins up as well before going downstairs and finding a way to take everyone to the house – he knew he should’ve bought a bigger car (it’s not like another debt would really make that much difference, he was already fucked anyway). 

Stiles was halfway up the stairs when he heard the doorbell ring, and he frowned while making his way back downstairs. 

“I’ll answer it!” He shouted. “Danny, go wake the twins up, please?” He asked when walking by the teenagers’ room. 

“Okay…” The boy mumbled, before passing by on his boxers only. It would be fun to see the Hales adapting to his kids’ lack of etiquette around each other, but it would probably help to give them more sense of family. 

The doorbell rang again and he rolled his eyes. “I’m coming!” People needed to stop being so anxious about stuff, if you drop by someone’s house this early in the morning you must expect that things won’t be working perfectly. Who the hell was it anyway? Probably Lydia, trying to get a glimpse of his new place before the reunion he would set up when things were done. He opened the front door already expecting his red-haired friend, but instead found a familiar smile and hoodie. 

“Boyd!” He shouted and hugged his son as tight as he could. The young man hugged him back, laughing in his own quiet way. “I thought you were only coming tomorrow to help with the moving.” Stiles was so happy to see his eldest there, he had missed the hell out of the kid while Boyd was on college. 

“Good to see you too, dad.” If he could, he would have never let the young man go. However, soon all other people in the house came running to see who was home. Allison and Kira jumped on them, and Scott somehow managed to climb on his brother’s back while Danny snuggled in pulling the twins along – neither of the younger boys liked Boyd very much, but it was mostly because they hadn’t had much time with his older son before he went to college. 

“This is like the best surprise ever.” Scott said kissing his brother’s cheek somewhat sloppy. 

“I know, I know. You guys missed me, but if I’m not mistaken shouldn’t you be painting a house or putting things into boxes?” 

They should, oh fuck, they should. He let go of his son, hastily looking around – the living room things were already in boxes, but he hadn’t even begun to pack his and his kids' stuff. 

“Dad, I’ll stay here and start packing up their stuff. Now, go. You can ask Pops to take my car, I don’t think everyone would fit in the jeep no matter how much we tried.” 

Blessed be the heavens for the decision he made that day, when instead of anyone else he chose that lonely eight-year old that seemed too grown up for his age. Boyd was such a perfect, he kept him steady and helped him out with everything. 

“Alright, everyone dress up and grab something to eat.” 

 

-O- 

 

Painting should have been easy. They should have split everyone in groups and painted everything without any major meltdowns. Erica could have dealt even with the fact she was not going to share a room with Isaac (she had lost her baby brother to that Scott kid), but she was not expecting the freaking Stilinskis to be two hours late. Or that her dad would make them work even if the others weren’t around. Erica was standing around in the second floor hallway, painting it light blue (because if they had to paint alone, they were choosing the damned colors) with her headphones on, listening to Bastille covering some song that would always sound better in their version. She already disliked those Stilinskis very, very much. Living with her father had gotten her used to people being on time and following schedules. She may be a bit of a rebel, but she appreciated knowing what was going to happen. Control over her own life was something she loved.

Erica felt someone pulling her shirt, and turned to find Cora staring at her with that almost grumpy face. Erica pulled off her headphones and did ‘the thing’ with her eyebrows to get her sister talking. 

“They are here. Dad wants to discuss the rooms thing with them.” 

Erica rolled her eyes and dropped the brush, pushing the little girl away so she could stomp downstairs. When she jumped the last three steps, Cora right behind her, everyone was there, already in a circle. She stepped in next to Jackson and crossed her arms over her chest. 

“So everyone, we are going to choose who shares a room with who.” Her dad had his hand on Stiles’ shoulder and was giving his best let's-please-not-make-a-drama-of-this look (the same one he had whenever Aunt Laura would talk about her relationships, or whenever they had to choose which film they were watching). 

“I wanna share a room with Isaac!” Scott shouted, raising his hand and pulling her brother closer.

“I want to share a room with Scott.” Isaac agreed, beaming one of those charm-everyone smiles he had. Erica only rolled her eyes and mumbled to herself. "What a surprise.” 

Stiles picked up a notebook and wrote it down. “Okay, so that’s me and Derek, Scott and Isaac, I’ll put my dad with Boyd, since Boyd rarely comes over anyway.” The Stilinski girls giggled and Erica could say she did not like the sound of it. Well, she didn’t like them - all fashionable clothes, big smiles and real boobs (it just was not fair that hers were not growing as they should be). Erica arched her eyebrow before rolling her eyes, knowing she’d probably end up with them or Cora. And to be honest? She didn’t know which option she hated the most. 

“If I need to share with someone, it will be Danny.” Jackson said, his usual pissy attitude showing as he spoke. 

Danny rolled his eyes (she sort of almost liked him; well, at least she had to admit the dude was like a fucking saint for dealing with her brother) and said. “I will love to share a room with you too, Jacks.” Erica grinned smugly at that. Yeah, she definitely liked Danny. 

“Well, that leaves the girls and the twins. Six people and two rooms. Well, how you propose we do this, Sourwolf?” Stiles asked, grinning to her dad in a way that made him give those almost smiles he had. She liked Stiles too - not _a lot_ though, he hadn’t shut up most of the times she was around him, and he would never be like her mom. Erica was pretty attached to the idea that the only human being that deserved her dad was her mom – and sometimes she was even too good for him. 

“Sourwolf is my wolf’s name!” Cora said, sounding half-grumpy half-excited like only five year olds could. “Dad is Dad. Not Sourwolf.” She put her hands on her hips and it took all of Erica’s willpower not to laugh at their stepdad's – weird way to think of it, but that's what Stiles was, right? – expression. 

The twin boys seemed as impressed by her little sister as it was possible, though they weren't saying anything, only staring at her like at a queen. Erica sighed and did the craziest shit she could thing of doing right now. 

“You should team me up with your girls and put Cora and the twins together.” She was going to the sisters' heaven, and in a worst case scenario the boys would just be kicked out by her baby sister. Her Dad frowned at the option, like it was absurd to leave Cora alone with the boys. “Come on, Dad. Be reasonable, she can’t share a bedroom with the older girls and I will not share a bedroom with a bunch of brats.” 

“We are not brats!” One of the boys said, angry. She ignored him and only stared down at her old man until he sighed and rolled his eyes. 

“Fine, do it. But if anything turns out badly, you’re sharing a bed with Cora.” 

Anyone who said manipulating her dad into doing something was hard, had never been around Derek Hale for more than five minutes. 

 

-M-

 

Derek and Stiles had just finished painting their room (ending up with mainly white and a light blue stripped one), and were now at the attic, preparing everything for it to become Stiles’ office and studio. 

“Things are going better than I expected.” The young man said smiling brightly as ever. Derek sighed and nodded. The kids had yet to argue and try to kill each other. Derek had no doubt they would, their personalities were too different it was only a matter of time before fighting was heard (especially since Allison and Kira would be sharing a room with Erica). 

“Don’t get your hopes too high.” He whispered, painting the wall with no real focus on the task. 

“Don’t be so pessimistic about it.” Stiles said, almost laughing and kissing his cheek, before painting his nose with white paint and giggling about it. Derek rolled his eyes and pulled him by the back of his neck for a slow and deep kiss. He loved feeling Stiles' mouth, warmth and perfect. How come he didn't kiss him more when they were ‘together’ the first time? Well, he was gonna repair that mistake. He felt those long fingers holding his waist, and the back of his shirt would most definitely be ruined with paint. They continued kissing for a while, lazy and happy, with no urge to get anywhere. When he parted their lips, Stiles actually pouted at him – a full-grown thirty two year old pouting at him. Derek rolled his eyes and Stiles pushed his chest. 

“You’re a fucking tease, Derek Hale.” 

Derek almost laughed and caressed the side of the younger man’s face. He would never mention that part of the paint previously on his nose had gone to Stiles’ and that he looked incredibly goofy and sort of adorable (he would never admit thinking the later either). Before he actually replied anything to that comment something happened downstairs, and both heard Jackson shouting. 

“Fuck you! I’ll damn right kill you.” And laughter following it. 

Derek gave his best ‘I told you so’ look before sighing and dropping his paintbrush on the newspapers covering the floor. “We should take a look.” 

“Nah, they’re kids. If it’s something really important they’ll call us.” 

Not even ten seconds after that he spoke, there was a shout from Erica. “Dad!” She sounded hysterical, like she only had once when Jackson had put a frog in her bed back when he was eleven and she was seven. This was not good. He took a deep breath before going down the stairs, and heard Stiles coming after him, mumbling something about ‘letting the kids have fun’. He didn’t know how fussy Derek’s kids were, how serious they could take a joke and how much trouble they would have if Erica or Jackson decided to put up war against the other kids. 

When they arrived downstairs, the place looked like a battlefield. Scott and Isaac had teamed up with Allison and Kira and were throwing paint at Erica and Jackson (who had Danny as a back up, even if he didn’t seem to really give a fuck about it all). Cora and the twins were running around trying to get the dirtier they could, apparently. 

The room looked like a sight of hell – or worst, something taken from his childhood when Laura would make these paint filled balloons and throw at him right after he had finished getting ready for school. He used to hate that so much. Stiles, on the other hand, started laughing and ran after the younger kids – getting himself full of paint as well. Derek would’ve loved to let them play – after he removed Erica and Jackson from there – but if they wanted this house to be ready for tomorrow they had to stop that right now. 

“Everyone just stop it now!” He said serious (okay, maybe too much like a growl, whatever), but it made them stop. 

Stiles looked at him, holding a blue (and white, and yellow, and was that pink?) Cora, before smiling openly. “Come on Sourwolf, don’t be a spoil-sport!” 

Derek ran his hand through his face, exasperate. “We need to finish the painting today, Stiles.” 

“Dad...” Cora whined, puppy eyes aimed at him. 

Derek arched an eyebrow and the girl got the message, then she looked down and turned to the twins. “We’re finishing the painting on our room, now.” And grumpily walked to the door that would be theirs – still covered in mixed paint. The two boys followed her, equally pissed but obedient. Allison glared at him, obviously upset, and mumbled something he was pretty sure he didn’t want to hear. Jackson pulled Danny and closed the door to the room – these two would become another hellish detail later on. Stiles got up and patted his children’s hair – and Isaac’s too – before walking past Derek, giving him a peck on the cheek while at it. 

Derek couldn’t say he wasn’t kind of upset – especially when Erica just took a deep breath, and said to Allison and Kira (loud enough so everyone in that floor could hear). “You can put whatever color you want in that stupid bedroom. I don’t care.” Then to him. “I’ll be outside.” He wanted to do something so she wouldn't feel so left out. 

He gave a serious look to the four kids left around – like he was going to ground them, he only had authority over Isaac now, it seemed. Derek made a note to himself to remember talking to Stiles about how they were raising the kids. He would grant his partner the right to have something to say in the way his children were raised, but he expected Stiles to do the same. There was bound to be a long talk about the parenting subject, they were like yin and yang in the matter, but they couldn’t be like that if they wanted things to work out. 

“Don’t you need to finish the painting, mister Hale?” Scott asked him, not wanting to be sassy or anything, but being anyway. His sisters tried to contain a laugh, and Derek only sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“Yes, I do, Scott. Now, you and Isaac go finish yours so we can have a snack before six.” He probably sounded more tired and upset than he really was, but Scott and Isaac nodded and went to their room as he said. Derek didn’t bother to tell Kira and Allison what they had to do, only climbed upstairs again. He wouldn’t talk to Stiles right now about it, they needed to finish the moving first. 

 

The rest of the afternoon when as smooth as possible. They finished the office and helped the kids with the rest of the house, then ate the things Stiles had brought – Cora and Isaac were delighted by homemade food that didn’t taste burnt for once. They all sat on the living room floor to define which furniture they were going to bring in, and Stiles made drawings of each room so the kids could plan. Erica, Allison and Kira all would bring their beds and only two closets. Scott and Isaac wanted a bunker bed; Stiles smiled softly and looked up to him, asking if it was okay. 

“Yeah, we can buy a bunker bed, but you will be sleeping in sleeping bags until we do so.” 

The two boys smiled at him and Isaac gave him a tight hug. “Thanks a lot, dad.” Scott got up too, walked to him and pulled his sleeve, looking down shyly. “Thanks, Derek.” The man smiled to the boy and patted his head, then Scott pushed Isaac so they would go back to their places. 

“Danny and Jackson’s room will probably have both of their beds.” Stiles said distracted, but Cora interrupted him. 

“Jacks has a king bed.” 

“Oh… I see…” Stiles seemed to think for a while. “I don’t think we can fit a king and a single in this room along with all the other things. It wouldn’t be fair with Danny anyway.” 

Derek had to agree. “So we’ll have to buy another single.” 

“No fucking way.” Jackson declared. “I’m not giving away my bed.” Derek sighed – come on, it was not like he hadn’t seen that coming, he just had hope sometimes. 

“What you suggest then?” He asked, arching an eyebrow. 

Scott was the one to interrupt this time. “They could share the bed.” As if that solved all the problems in the world, not actually created a dozen more. He couldn’t have two teenagers sharing a double bed, especially when he was already starting to believe there was something going on. 

“Not an option.”

“Why not, Der?” Stiles even tilted his head in confusion. 

“Because I don’t think it’s appropriate. Besides, we can afford buying another single bed.” He didn’t want to be responsible if anything happened. 

Stiles simply ignored him – he was pretty good at that since the start – and turned to Danny and Jackson. “Do you two have any problem with that?” Like only them wanting to be together was a solution. Danny and Jackson both nodded at him and looked at each other, 'fair enough' written on their faces. “Please, promise us that you two won’t do the sheet tango when we’re home.” 

“You can’t do that at all, actually.” He tried to assert, only to have Stiles facing him again. 

“They can if they want, Derek. They’re not siblings and well, and if you really got any problem because they are both boys? Well, surprise! We’re both guys and last time I checked I had a dick and you liked it.” 

Derek didn’t really blush, but he was embarrassed. Cora looked utterly confused, and so did Isaac, who even said. “What does he mean, dad?" 

“Why do your wee-wees matter?” Cora looked lost and Derek just wanted to flee. He gave a hard look to Stiles so he wouldn’t say anything to his kids, Cora and Isaac were too young to know anything about sex. Scott leaned in closer to Isaac and Derek actually gave him his serious look so the kid wouldn’t dare. 

“How did I end up with such a prude? How do I even tap that?” 

“Oversharing, papa.” Allison said with a glare.

“Come on, is not like you guys think we don’t have sex.” 

“What’s sex?” Cora asked. 

“Adults business. You’re too young for this.” 

Stiles smirked at him. Derek shouldn’t like his smirk right now, Stiles was being all sorts of an unhelpful little shit. He should be angry and not wanting to even look at him. Before he could complain or say anything else, though, Stiles jumped on him making Derek fall on his back to the ground. 

“Please, Der-bear?” Those almost eyes staring at him pleading, that pout – the fucker was actually pouting – and the warmth of the body over his were enough for Derek to roll his eyes and push his partner off him. 

“Okay, you win.” 

Stiles punched the air and leaned in, giving a peck on his lips and another on his cheek. Derek sat back trying to regain his posture and gave a glance to the two teenage boys. “If you do anything, I don’t wanna know and I don’t want your siblings knowing.”

Danny rolled his eyes for the thousandth time and said, sounding like he had given up. “Jackson is not my type, for Chuck’s sake.”

“I understood that reference.” Scott said giggling. 

Kira followed him giggling even more. “Thanks for the input, Jeff.” 

And every single one of the members of the Stilinski family laughed like it was the funniest joke ever to be made. Derek arched one of his eyebrows, Stiles seemed to notice his confusion and bumped his shoulder whispering. 

“It's a little reference face off we have going on. Danny quoted me, Scott quoted Captain America in the Avengers film, and then Kira quoted Nathan Drake from Uncharted.” 

Derek decided to just let this go. He didn’t see why this would be so funny, probably some teen stuff he wouldn’t ever understand. 

 

-Y- 

 

It was early, maybe too early, when Boyd woke up (on the couch, where he had slept that night), mostly because he'd stayed up late talking to his dad and to his grandfather. He wanted to find out more about this man his dad was in love with, and about his kids. Boyd knew this wouldn’t be easy, for what his father had said this Derek had as much emotional baggage as Stiles (and his father had a big emotional baggage, just saying). They clearly had different views on parenting, and that was bound to make things tough. 

He sat up and saw his father sprawled on the floor, watched as he looking at the card boxes like this was the hardest thing ever. “Couldn’t sleep, dad?” 

“My pillow was packed and I couldn’t find it.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair before going back and sitting on the couch as well, still looking blankly at the boxes. Boyd knew that expression, the same one he wore right after mother died and they had started having debts and things weren’t going so well. 

“I don’t think his kids like me, and Allison sure as hell hates his guts. I just wanted everything to be okay for once. I’m scared, I don’t want this to go wrong.” 

He almost laughed, that was too funny. “You are jinxing it.” 

“No, the hell I am.” He stuck his tongue out and flipped Boyd, who laughed and let himself fall back on the couch. Most parents wouldn’t be like his, they would demand respect and obedience not act like his children were his friends and everything was sunshine and rainbows. Not saying he didn’t love the way his dad was, any other parent wouldn’t have been able to raise his kids to be that free and to earn their trust so fully. He just hoped his dad would notice that, even though he was an amazing parent, his way was not perfect.

“You only do that because I’m right.” 

“Shut up, kiddo.” His dad said as he got up. “Go wake your siblings up while I prepare the coffee, the truck will arrive eight am.”

“Yes, sir.” He teased his father who rolled his eyes and went to the kitchen. Boyd walked up the stairs, giving the last looks to the house where he had grown up. He only had fine memories of this place, memories of him and Allison in the first days painting and just enjoying life. Soon he was in the kids bedroom, looking at Scott and the twins fast asleep in sleeping bags. 

“Rise and shine, baby bros.” He said, lightly shaking their shoulders and trying to get them to wake up. 

Scott of course jumped up and went to do whatever. Aiden and Ethan weren’t so happy, but Boyd didn’t really get them – he believed those boys needed therapy as soon as possible before the damage became unfixable. 

Scott was putting his clothes on when he turned to Boyd, smiling. “You’ll meet Isaac today! I bet you will like him.” 

The young man smiled and messed his brother’s shaggy hair. “I sure will, Scotty.” He then went downstairs to wake up the teenagers. Once inside he went right to the curtains and threw them open, being louder than necessary. “Get up, everyone. The day is up and you have work to do.” 

Of course they complained, or else they wouldn’t be Boyd’s family. Kira was the first up, pulling Danny with her so they could go get dressed. Allison remained on the sleeping back, pouting. Boyd sighed and sat on the floor next to her. 

“Don’t be so down, Ally. Smile a bit and enjoy it.” 

She forced herself to give him a smile. 

For some reason, he felt a slight disturbance in the Force (as his dad would have put it), like a little whisper in the back of his mind. _You watch them, Boyd. You have to make sure they won’t mistakenly ruin your father’s life._

_Because they are gonna try to fuck shit up._

 

-O- 

 

Danny didn’t know what he was supposed to do. 

He just stared in confusion at Erica (his new sister, if he were to take these things seriously) figuratively drooling over his eldest brother as they passed by the hallway. He would have never imagined she would be the kind to fall in love that quickly. Danny wanted to pat her shoulder and say ‘Girl, you’re ten years younger than him, you’re just a kid.’, but that would be just completely mean, and Boyd seemed to know how to deal with things just fine, laughing and helping her carry her things up the stairs. 

Danny himself was now sitting on Jackson’s bed – which was their bed now and this was just so fucking awkward – watching as his friend unpacked his clothes (god, how could someone have that much clothing? Danny was going to borrow a lot of those) and his hair products. 

“What will we do when I get someone over?” He asked bored picking up his notebook to check if his hook up of the week wanted to go out tonight. 

“You? I could get someone too.” 

“No, Jacks, you couldn’t. You’re the new kid and you’re unbearable for anyone who isn’t me or your family. “ 

Jackson flipped him the finger and whispered a ‘Fuck you, Danny’, but he didn’t care the slightest. Danny was tired as fuck from all the moving around. He had carried boxes, dealt with a whole bunch lot of siblings being little brats and with Jackson. Besides, he wasn’t sure if it was legal for his dad to get himself a man that hot – Derek had spent half of the fucking day shirtless whilst he helped the guys hired to assemble the furniture. 

At least they had his grandpa over to stop their dad from jumping all over him and being completely gross. Danny sighed and let himself fall back, and Jackson sat next to him. “Well, I guess the one that’s not having sex will have to go and sleep on the couch.” 

They exchanged glances and both boys could feel the challenge being settled: which one of them would get someone on their bed first. Danny knew he would win, but he couldn’t give less of a fuck about Jackson’s pride being hurt, he needed to feel like he could beat the dude in something. He knew his now-brother was thinking the same anyway, going by the smug smile on his face. Before they could say anything else to each other, though, Kira showed up by the door smiling. 

“Dad finished dinner.” Her happiness was obvious since today was her day. Danny sat up and patted Jackson’s thigh.

“Let’s go.” 

Jackson got up and both of them walked downstairs. The table was the biggest one he had ever seen – Derek’s mom had sent it to them as some sort of gift – and people were there in sort of little groups. His grandpa sitting in one of the ends and Derek in the other – dude always tried to be like some sort of Alpha male, weird. Stiles was by his side, and Isaac and Scott were on the other side talking. Erica was next to them alone, Allison and Kira chatting across from her. The twins and Cora were together looking at the yakisoba like it was an E.T. Boyd sat next to Erica and that left two chairs for them. Danny sat next to his brother, mostly because he didn’t think Jackson could possibly annoy the Sheriff.

His mistake. 

By the time Derek brought the ice cream, John looked like he wanted to slap Jackson’s face. Erica tried to shut her brother up, but the boy just ignored her. Even Cora shouted at him at one point, telling him to stop making their father sad (after he told Derek to shut up when his dad told him to stop being so mean). 

“He’s not my dad!” 

Danny could feel the tension building up, and dared to glance to their parents. His dad was holding Derek’s shoulder as the man looked down, all stiff and hurt. He looked like he was about to blast. 

Instead, he only said, controlled. “Jackson, stop. This is not the time or the place.” Danny wondered how many of those outbursts he had to deal with. He watched the Hale kids reactions, and that surprised him. Isaac was looking at his dad in worry, Erica was pissed, and Cora was in the verge of tears – which for some reason ended up with the twins trying to calm her down.

“Why should I? You never have the time to listen anyway! And now you took off your wedding ring! All because your stupid bitch of a boyfriend decided that you two should have a happy make-believed life-“

“Enough!” Derek got up, his jaw clenching and his nostrils flared. “Go to your room. You’re not allowed to go out anywhere but school. Don’t dream of getting anywhere near a computer, hand me your cellphone.” 

“You can’t do that, you’re not my-" Jackson got up too, looking like he was about to start shouting again. 

“You may not think of me as your father, but I do, and the court agrees with me. I’m your legal guardian. Now give me your cellphone.” Derek extended his hand, dead serious. The teenage boy got up and pushed the cellphone in his father’s hand before stomping upstairs. 

Derek sat back, looking crushed, then whispered, looking up straight at John. “I’m sorry for his behavior.”

The older man sighed, and rested back on his chair. “It’s fine. Most teenagers give you a hard time sometimes. My son used to sneak out to see his boyfriend and lied for me during the whole time.” 

Stiles ended up laughing, but the mood of the night was ruined. 

When Danny came into his room later that night, Jackson was lying under the covers curled onto his pillow. The dark-haired boy changed his clothes and went under the covers, too. 

“Wanna talk?” He whispered, concerned. 

“No.” His voice was hoarse, like he had been crying. 

Danny clasped his shoulder. It had been a completely idiotic move of Jackson, but he wanted to do something, just like he would’ve done if this was Allison or Kira. For some dumb reason, Danny started humming a song from Lilo & Stitch. 

If that made Jackson sleep, they would never speak about it.

 

-M- 

 

Stiles watched from the bed as Derek left the bathroom, wearing sweatpants and looking like a truck had run over him. “Are the kids all in bed?” He asked, sitting next to Stiles. 

“The young ones are. I read a Cap comic book to Scott and Isaac, Cora and the twins didn’t give me any trouble after a reading of ‘Goodnight moon’. The girls were getting ready, and Jackson and Danny seemed to be okay.” Stiles didn’t want to talk more about the kids right now. Tonight’s dinner had been hard, he hadn’t expected things to go that bad, or to be called anything like a ‘stupid bitch’. He felt a warm hand touching his cheek and looked up to Derek. 

“I’m so sorry about today.” 

“Relax, one of your kids is a tiny bit unbearable, I can deal with that.” He could, eventually learn his way around Jackson. He didn’t want to talk about this anymore, it would only make him more and more upset for no reason at all. “Come here.” He pulled Derek closer to a kiss, slow and soft, and older man held the back of his head. Just kissing for the sake of kissing was good. Then they parted and Derek pushed him until they were lying on bed, all the while nuzzling his neck. Stiles smiled and whispered. 

“We’ll have to be very quiet from now on.” 

“You’re the one that’s usually loud.” Derek whispered as he kissed his way down the pale neck. Stiles was glad he had decided to sleep shirtless, he liked the scratch of the stubble and the soft and dry feel of Derek’s lips on his skin so damn much. He tried to keep his breathing calm and controlled, but come on, he was not the one to blame since everything felt so very good. If he soon hooked his foot on the back of Derek’s calf that was not at all his fault. 

“Perhaps you should shut me up then?” He teased, pulling Derek for another open-mouthed lazy kiss, just enjoying the contact and all domesticity stuff he wasn’t really used to. 

Derek smiled in the kiss, running his hands along the pale chest. Stiles closed his eyes and relaxed, almost falling sleep. The day had been hella hard, and tomorrow was school day, and work day – he had to finish the cover for a book. The older man parted the kiss eventually, and looked at him like Stiles was worth being admired. The artist was distracted by the bunch of colors Derek’s eyes could have when he felt hips humping his and gasped out of surprise.

“You fucker.” He hissed between his teeth, and only received a wolfish smirk in return as the hips continued meeting his and the hands found their way to his nipples. This was just like old times, Derek taking control of everything like the alpha male he tried to be. This time, though, Stiles was no longer a lanky teen and was not completely drunk. He managed some leverage and rolled them to straddle Derek’s hip, grinding down and thrusting his ass against Derek’s crotch. The look of surprise in the man’s face was worth it all. 

“What was it?” He leaned in closer and kissed his lips. No more time wasted, his partner grabbed his ass and thrust upwards, making him gasp again. 

Stiles licked his lips, as they continued humping each other like too horny teenagers again, tired and in a hurry. Derek soon pushed his hand inside Stiles’ pants and warm fingers brushed his rim. The younger man decided he wouldn’t be the one to moan first, so he as swiftly as possible (which wasn’t much, but whatever) shoved Derek’s pants down and started jerking him off in earnest. They kissed to try containing their moans, but that didn’t really work since Stiles could barely keep his mind focused. Every time Derek’s hips moved upward his fingers pushed a little bit more inside Stiles and he wanted to swear, because this was not fucking fair. Derek was groaning slightly, lips parted and looking sinful. Stiles was so damn close, rolling his eyes and moving his hips faster and faster. And what is coordination anyway? 

He ended up coming in his pants, continuing to jerk Derek until he came too, holding Stiles tighter against him. 

“We made a mess.” He said after a couple moments staring at each other, and Stiles smiled pecking him. 

“We have to take a bath and clean everything.” Derek said, but he was almost asleep. So it was up to the younger one to go and pick up a washcloth, clean them both and change his pants before going to bed. When he finally got to lay down Derek was fast asleep, the fucker. Stiles rolled his eyes and snuggled against his partner. He was almost asleep as well when the first shout was heard.

“You let me in, now!” Allison sounded like she was about to kick some ass or kill someone. 

Both of them opened their eyes, and Derek sighed. “What is it now?”

“Never!” Erica replied, sounding defying as ever. 

Stiles rolled his eyes, wondering what he had done wrong to deserve two teenage girls screaming at each other at this time of the night. They continued screaming like this was a fucking street for some time. Derek seemed like he was going to move, but Stiles held him down. “Let them work it out.” 

“They’ll kill each other.” Derek complained, but did not try to get up again. 

“Nah, it’s just a fight to find which one of them is tougher.” Stiles had seen this happen when Lydia met Heather, and it would end well. Probably. “My money is on Ally.” He said sleepy.

“Nah, Erica can be really nasty, and she had training with Jackson.” 

“We’ll see in the morning.”

Derek won the bet in the end. Allison ended up sleeping on Boyd’s bed while the boy slept on the couch. Erica didn’t seem very pleased about having won after she found that out, though.

 

-Y- 

 

John sometimes wondered why the hell he had agreed to live with his son, he should have known this would be the furthest of easy it could get. Well, at least he got good food and could see his grandkids every day. Derek’s kids weren’t bad either – Cora and Isaac he liked, Erica he had learned to deal with and Jackson… he was Jackson. They had been living together for a couple of days now, and even if he didn’t like Derek that much he had to admit those two seemed happy as fuck. Right now, the kids were all getting ready for school, which was an event in itself considering how much time Jackson, Erica, Danny and Kira took in the bathroom. Last night he overheard Derek saying that he would find a way to make things simpler, and John hoped he managed it, because that Jackson kid looked murderous sitting on the couch waiting for Kira to get out. 

Stiles seemed not to pay attention to that – he had been feeding Cora and the twins while Derek tried to convince Scott he was not trying to take Isaac away, but actually driving them both to school today. Through the past days, Scott had grown less fond of Derek and was behaving strangely bad for such a lovely kid. John figured that was probably jealousy, Stiles and Derek shared the room and sometimes they locked the door (a concept that was not familiar at all for his grandkids).  
Eventually, his line of thought was broken as his son got visibly fed up with Jackson's attitude (if his annoyed huff was anything to go by) and began teasing.

“Come on, don’t be a bitch about that. Gotta get used to share, buddy.” 

The older man wanted to facepalm himself out of this situation, because obviously his son had to bring that subject up. Stiles hadn’t forgotten about the insult, and for the look of anger in the teenager’s face, Jackson had expected him to. The ex-sheriff (god, sometimes he wished he had his job back) couldn’t help noticing that Derek had frozen and didn't seem to know what to do. Oh, dear god, this wouldn’t end well. 

“Stiles, let it go…” The Hale kid said (because Derek would always be the Hale kid to him, the senior that once used to pop up in the Stilinski household to 'study'). He didn’t sound angry, but was definitely protecting his son. John could respect that, regardless of the specifics. And for the look in Stiles face, so did he. 

 

Latter that same morning, when all kids were finally downstairs and John was getting ready to go meet some of his friends, Derek presented his great idea – a time-schedule for the bathrooms. And well, needless to say all of his grandchildren laughed. John himself almost laughed too (because hell, this was a weird thing to do) but it only took one look at Derek arching his eyebrows up to see this was no joke. Stiles, though, didn’t get to see it before he did snicker – trying to be smooth about it, but obviously failing – and John doubted he had ever seen kids looking so angry as Derek’s right now. Even Isaac looked offended by it. 

“Oh, it was not a joke?” Stiles asked looking at Derek. The older man just arched his eyebrows again and gave a smile that was everything but true. “Of course, it was not a joke. This is a really good idea and we should totally give it a shot.” 

The children didn’t seem to be any less upset about it, but John couldn’t really see a way out of this that wouldn’t include his son to fight with his partner, and that was definitely something Stiles wasn’t about to do. Derek put the sheets with the schedule by the bathrooms’ doors, and then they all went out to do whatever they needed to.

John texted Lydia Martin on the way out to his car.  
 _“I think Peter was right, things will be bad soon.”_

 

-O- 

 

Scott didn’t like this. 

He didn’t want to have Derek’s sister over. Why did they have to meet her anyway? It wasn’t enough that Derek was living with them and sharing a room with his papa? And now his sister would come by too and be at their home and touch their stuff. The boy was sitting in his bed, upset and pouting, when Isaac sat next to him with a smile. 

“Aunt Laura is amazing. You’ll like her, I promise.” His friend had been saying wonders about his aunt, but Scott still wasn’t sure. She probably was all grumpy like Derek, and Scott didn’t like grumpy people. Derek scared him, he looked like he was gonna snap fangs and his eyes would shine red, like he was some sort of big bad wolf. They hadn't been living together for long, but Scott couldn’t help to think that he wouldn’t mind if Derek, Jackson and Erica went away and only Isaac and Cora stayed with them. 

“Bunnies, hop downstairs!” His dad shouted. “Laura is here.”

Cora squee'd and passed by running barefoot, with Aiden and Ethan right on her heels, as Erica got out of her room distractedly texting someone on her cell. Allison and Kira were downstairs already, and so were Jackson and Danny. Isaac offered his hand to Scott and smiled some more. “Let’s go, Scott?” 

He nodded and took his friends' hand, skipping steps downstairs with him. When they arrived in the living room it wasn’t hard to spot who Laura was. She had dark hair and was wearing jeans and a leather jacket, there was something that resembled Derek in her. However, she was away prettier, and she had a big smile. Isaac pulled him along and they both stood next to her. 

“Aunt Laura, this is Scott!” The blonde boy said like presenting him was a really big deal. “He’s my age.”

She kneeled in front of them, still smiling, and patted Scott’s shoulder. “I have a question for you, Scott.” 

The boy was worried for a moment, but then remembered Isaac had said his aunt was amazing and decided to give her a shot. “Go ahead.”

“Can I be the Black Widow, since you’re Cap and Isaac’s Bucky?” And in that moment, Scott had to smile and nod. He liked this one, she probably kicked ass just like Natasha. Laura seemed pleased with his reaction. 

Soon enough, Scott decided Laura was amazing. She was funny, she was pretty and she liked all the things his dad liked. Derek seemed to like her too, and she definitely liked him a lot. Even Erica became bearable with her Aunt around. Actually, all of the Hales seemed more like ordinary people when she was around. 

At some point during dinner, Allison asked her. “So, Laura, do you have any tips for me and Kira about relationships?” It was her way of testing the older woman - Lydia always said you could only trust someone if they knew how to give relationship advice to teenagers, but auntie Lydia was sort of weird and Scott didn't know if she would pass. 

“Well, I personally have a rule of never going back to old relationships. I mean, if it didn’t work once, why go to all the trouble and the pain of trying again? It most likely won’t be worth it.” Scott guessed that should make sense, since Allison nodded and smiled.

“Laur…” Derek said, low as in a warning - his voice sounded almost like a growl sometimes, and Scott didn’t like that. 

“Well, as I mentioned before, that’s _my_ rule. Some relationships are worth trying again.” 

“Like Dad’s and Stiles’!” Cora said, beaming. Isaac and their parents agreed, smiling too, and so did Aunt Laura. However, the rest of the kids didn’t seem to agree with it. Scott didn’t think his dad was really happy with Derek, he would’ve been happier if he had someone like Laura. Now that Scott thought about it, if she was around maybe Isaac’s dad would let him stay anyway. 

“Well, changing the subject, would you two mind if I took Scott and Isaac to do a marathon of Marvel films back at my place one of these days? I bet they would like it.” Laura said and Scott could barely contain his excited jumps. 

“Can we, dad? Please, pretty please?”

Stiles glanced over to Derek (who just nodded like he had been beaten long ago on this battle), then turned to his son. “Only if I can join you.”

“Yey!”

 

-M- 

 

Derek arrived home from work that Thursday a bit earlier than he should have. The place was sort of empty, since Stiles had taken Scott and Isaac to Laura’s place so they would do that marvel marathon of theirs. Derek sighed and walked to the living room, seeing Cora and the twins playing in the yard on his way, then finding Jackson was lying on the sofa, zapping through channels as if he didn’t have anything better to do. 

He took off his shoes and his tie, trying to feel more comfortable, and his son only glanced over at him, not caring much about his presence (no surprise in that). Derek looked over his shoulder and saw Allison in the kitchen, cooking something that didn’t smell too good. 

“Is everything okay?”

Jackson glanced over at him once more and sighed. “Of course not, for fucks' sake dad. Danny is upstairs with some dude, and I won’t be sleeping there for a long while. And she’s baking furiously ever since she got home, the Chinese girl is upstairs playing guitar.” Derek wanted to say she was not Chinese and had a name, but knew that with the current mood this was useless.

“Did he ask Stiles about it?”

“Yep.” Jackson sounded utterly bitter about it, which was no surprise. Derek would have never allowed his son to bring someone while the kids were in the house, especially when the teenagers should be keeping an eye over them. Making John watch over them seemed too much of an irresponsible act sometimes - those were their kids, they couldn’t hope the Sheriff would always watch over them. 

Derek sighed and got up, heading to the kitchen to try talking to Allison. Yes, the girl hated him – he was not blind to it, he'd just rather pretend things weren’t that bad. That maybe he could be able to make Stiles’ kids like him, even if he wasn’t sure how to make anyone like him. Soon he stood in the kitchen, bare feet on the tile floor and confused frown on his face. “How are you doing, Allison?” 

The girl looked at him, serious and clearly upset, closing the oven like it was an enemy of the state. “Fine.” She seemed to want to just punch him on the chin and be done with the conversation, but he could guess this was not the only reason why the girl was so troubled. 

Derek sighed and pulled a chair, sitting down facing the girl. “You don’t seem like the baking type for me.” 

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. “It’s what I can do.”

“But not what you would like to do.” Derek could tell she wasn’t happy with this, just like he hadn’t been happy in the army. They were doing what they needed to do, what people wanted them to do. He didn’t want Allison to grow bitter and miserable like he had. “What would you like to do?”

Allison seemed to think if she would tell him or not. She didn’t trust him enough, nor should she. However, Derek hoped she would open up anyway, Allison was a nice girl and obviously a grand influence on the rest of the kids. Those were long minutes during which they didn’t speak, only the noise from the TV in the background to show they were not alone. Allison was looking elsewhere, her curly hair all messy making him think of Laura, and obviously of Stiles too. 

“Archery, I’m good in archery.” Her voice startled him, as he wasn’t expecting her to say anything at all. “My dad doesn’t want me to do it.” 

Well, that was just like Stiles. He probably thought it was too violent for his kid or something like that, but Derek knew he could talk Stiles into letting his daughter do archery. There was plenty of room for her to train on his parents' property, and didn’t that friend of Peter’s – Chris whatever – know how to handle a bow? Well, getting her into archery would definitely make her hate him less, or so he hoped. 

“Archery is good. If you wanna try it, I can help you with the equipment.” 

She frowned, probably not really believing in what he said. Derek didn’t mind so much, he wouldn’t go off his boundaries just to make this one girl like him. He could deal with Stiles’ kids hating him, it was better than trying too hard and making her hate him even more. 

“I don’t need your pity. Just because you’re fucking my dad that doesn’t mean you’re anything to me!"

“No, it doesn’t.” He should not be hurt by those words - if Stiles had dealt with Jackson screaming he was a bitch in front of everyone, well, Derek could deal with an angry Allison. 

“So why even bother?!” She glared at him, with tears of frustration rolling down her cheeks.

Derek let a bitter grin curls his lips, then sighed before answering her. “Because I want to have a life with Stiles. He makes me happy and I like to think I make him happy too.” He wasn’t mad at her, wasn’t going to fall in the teenager’s frustrations. Even if it hurt, he had dealt with worse things in his life. He got up, and walked outside to play with the younger ones – at least they didn’t want him gone yet. The Sheriff was sitting there, watching over them. 

“Hey there, Derek.” 

“Hey, Sheriff.” 

“It’s John, you know.”

Derek took a deep breath and crossed his arms over his chest. When Cora saw him, she came running and smiling. “Dad?”

“Yeah, little cub.” She was his little girl, had barely had even known Paige before she was gone. All references Cora had of a parental figure were on him, and well, on Stiles now. 

“Dad, you are staying here forever now, aren't you?” She asked out of the blue, her voice concerned.

“I hope so, kiddo.”

Somewhere in his head, though, he heard Laura saying: _I mean, if it didn’t work once, why go to all the trouble and the pain of trying again? It most likely won’t be worth it._

 

-Y- 

 

Allison liked to think she was good at planning stuff. 

She came up with the plan to rule all plans after that _talk_ with Derek. Well, she hadn’t really thought it through yet, and that’s why the ‘Date Night’ was so important. Because her granddad would fall asleep on his chair and she could call the meeting. It was sort of awkward, but she knocked on the first door: Cora and the twins.

The girl looked at her, dead serious and disheveled, seemingly having been wrestling Aiden while Ethan read a book. Allison wasn’t going to ask. 

“Go to Dad’s office, we need to talk.” 

Cora arched her eyebrow – in a gesture Allison had learned to identify as a Hale way to say ‘Why should I do as you say?’ – and the teenager rolled her eyes. “Just do it, please. I’ll explain everything upstairs.”

The young ones did as they were asked and she proceed to the next room. Calling Scott and Isaac was not hard, all she did was tell them this was a secret mission. Kira and Erica were already upstairs – it had been tough to convince the blonde girl, but Allison knew that they needed everyone in this. She then opened Danny’s door without knocking – he was her brother, she had shared a room with him for ten years, there was nothing she hadn’t seen yet – and had to shout of surprise when she spotted Jackson lying in his underwear on the bed, as Danny sat on the desk on his notebook. 

The blond boy jumped and promptly began being a brat. Ugh.

“Couldn’t you fucking knock, Allison?!” 

She covered her eyes with a hand and only then spoke again. “No, this is serious business. I need everyone in my dad’s office, asap.”

And she walked away before anything more embarrassing happened. When Allison got to the mess that was her father's office, everyone had somehow found a place to sit already. She ended up sitting on his desk, legs crossed and back straight. She tried to act like Aunt Lydia, all kick-ass and a leader. 

Erica sighed looking down at her - why did she have to be so annoying? “Why do we need to be here?”

“Let’s wait for Jackson and Danny. Everyone needs to listen to this.” 

The older boys arrived three minutes later and looked unimpressed at her. Allison took a deep breath and started reciting the speech she had come up with in her mind.

“Well, everyone here knows how hard things have been since we moved in together. You guys don’t like my dad, and we don’t like your dad, and, seriously, they are not good for each other.”

“Surprisingly, I agree with you.” Erica said, leaning over, seeming more interested now. 

Allison smirked, and got up. “I know some of you” She glanced over to the younger kids. “Are having the time of your life, like this is an endless sleepover. However, it’s only a matter of time before they start fighting, and when they do it’s gonna be ugly, and you’ll have to take sides. Would you ever take my dad’s side instead of your dad’s, Isaac?” She turned to the blonde boy.

He shook his head, and Allison patted his hair, he was a really good boy. “And Scott would never take Derek’s side either, right?” Her brother nodded, seeming sad. She hated to part them, but she didn’t want her dad hurt again. She didn’t want the young ones to have to grow up all full of hopes and then be torn apart because the adults had had enough of playing house. 

“She’s right. We have to break them apart, before they break each other. If we can control how they break up, things won’t have to be bad. In fact, we can make them part as friends and you would still get to see each other. Besides, I don’t think any of us wants them to forget our moms.” Jackson chimed in.

“Dad wouldn’t ever forget mom, right?” Cora said, looking morosely at her brother. Allison knew the boy was playing dirty, but she could appreciate his help. 

“He stopped wearing his wedding band. I haven’t seen a single photo of her around, it’s like she never existed.”

“It’s not fair.” The little girl said, in the verge of tears. “Mama is important.”

“So, we have to make sure Dad is single so he won’t forget her.” Jackson turned to Allison, and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m assuming you have a plan.” 

Allison had to grin as she picked up a drawing she had hidden among her dad’s things. “I sure as hell do.” 

-O-

Stiles had loved their date night, being all couply with Derek was awesome. They went bowling – just for the glory of the fun – and Stiles got seriously humiliated in it. The guy couldn’t be good in everything! Except he was. Stiles didn’t really mind, though, and they shared a laugh before Derek decided they should probably go to a bar. 

That had been a major bad idea. 

You see, the thing about Beacon Hills is that even if it’s a fairly accepting town – they have ‘Jungle’ and lots of equality friendly places, after all – there were still douchebags around. 

When they entered the bar, snickering and teasing each other, Stiles had noticed the guy at the counter giving him a side glance. He didn’t give a fuck though, and Derek didn’t seem to notice. They found a table and Derek went to pick a beer to them. They laughed and talked – talking was good, Stiles so could do talking. Eventually, they got more affectionate - it was only natural, they were drinking and having fun, this was their date night. He ended up kissing Derek more than once and tangling their fingers, all the crap couples do when they are in love. He had even forgotten the jerk bag, until he got up to pick the last beers they would have before going to the car so they could drunkenly make out before heading back to their lives. 

Of course the dude had to come up at him – not in the good sense – saying a bunch of homophobic nonsense, why not? “This is a decent bar! We don’t needed two faggots like you around, if you are in a place that’s not like that gay-friendly crap you should at least have decency in public! We don’t need to see this.” 

Stiles usually didn’t give a fuck about this shit, he would have ignored this douche. However, it may have something to do with him being tired, or with the fact that fucker didn’t know shit about his life and was being a completely asshole. He may or may not have thought it was a great idea to punch the guy, and when he did he remembered why he left those fighting and brawling things to Derek. His hand hurt so much he actually believe he had broken it, but he wouldn’t allow that dickhead to make him feel bad about it, so he turned and shouted to the fuckers face. 

“You shut your stupid mouth! I’m fucking tired of people saying what I can or can’t do. He’s my partner! If you’re so bothered by people being happy and in love go to your sad little home and go cry on a bottle, don’t make people miserable just because you’re pathetic.” 

_Obviously_ the dude wouldn’t let things be like that and, before Stiles could really think, a punch hit his jaw and he lost his balance. Luckily, at that point the extremely hot man he had as a partner was already behind him to keep him on his feet. Fucking hell, he tried to remember all the witty things he could say instead of focusing on the pain, and in the fact that now three idiots had joined douche number one. Behind him, Derek sighed and held Stiles up – the younger man wanted to say he was not that drunk and could walk by himself, but the side glance Derek gave to him made him stay quiet. Derek gave a serious and scary - though, Stiles would have say that it made him more horny than scared - look to the idiots and told them to back off. That he was not fucking interested in a fight (and that they could shove their beers on their asses with no lube added, but this last part was muttered and not everyone heard it). One of the guys said he wouldn’t back down just because a fag asked him to, so Derek put him down with a punch on the nose, then performed the famous bored-raised-eyebrow. “Does anyone else have an uncalled for comment?” 

No one did. They were jerks, not complete idiots. 

Derek put some dollar bills on the counter to the bartender and left, carrying Stiles back to the car. When they were inside and driving back home, Derek asked him - tone maybe a bit harsher than Stiles would’ve liked it. 

“Why the hell did you do that, Stiles?” 

“Because the guy was a complete moron and offended me?” He was pretty sure that was rather obvious. 

“It was dangerous. The guy could have a knife or - god helps me – a gun! Fuckers like that wouldn’t think twice before hurting you.” He wasn’t looking at Stiles whilst he spoke, who couldn’t really get why he was so bothered.

“He didn’t. Besides, you wouldn’t let anything happen to me.”

“You have kids Stiles, you can’t just risk yourself like that.”

“Derek, stop worrying over nothing. It’s done. No one got hurt, not much at least. Those jerks learned they can’t be homophobes like that and go unpunished.” He held Derek’s shoulder and smiled tentatively at him. The older man sighed and seemed to give up on that conversation. Which was good, Stiles hated to have meaningless arguments, specially when he knew he was right. Even so, the look on Derek’s face upset him. Like, why did he have to be so doom and gloom about things? Why couldn’t he just fucking chill? They needed to make a point - if it hadn’t been with them it may have been with Danny, and Stiles did not want to think about his son being confronted by a bunch of jerks. He was trying to make the world a better place for his kids, and if that meant taking some risks, so be it! 

Of course he didn’t say any of it to Derek, it would only have made them argue over it. And Stiles hated arguing. 

They arrived home and found the lights off – which was sort of a relief, considering their moods. When they entered the house, Derek said (actually, mumbled) that he was going to take a shower first, and Stiles ended up finding his way to the kitchen, pouring a glass of water and sitting on the counter whilst he drank. 

Their fridge didn’t have photos and drawings like it used to (mainly because you couldn’t possibly fit every drawing and photo of eleven kids on a single fridge) and he missed it. He missed the photos of baby Allison hugging Boyd tightly, he missed Scott and Kira’s first photo when they arrived at the house. He missed Danny’s drawing of their family (that included an angel version of Heather and a Lydia with too big lips). He missed a photo of him and his parents. All little things that made it feel like home. 

He and Derek were starting over, and they had decided together to keep some memories on boxes. How could they get over it if they were still haunted by pictures of their dead wives? How could the kids accept their new life if they continued seeing photos that didn’t feature everyone?

He sighed. Soon they would have photos to put on the fridge. Cora and the twins had already started their masterpiece, it seemed. He just hoped things would continue improving, that they managed to become something like a functional family. 

After ten minutes, he wasn’t upset anymore. He was tired, and wanted to faceplant on the bed and become one with the mattress. On his way to their room, he couldn’t resist to check on the kids though - it was something he did a lot, just see if they were still there, if they were safe. They were, sleeping like the angels they were not. 

He ended up going back to the room after a while, to find Derek already on bed and facing away from him. He was upset, Stiles could almost see the frowning. Stiles sighed and climbed on the bed, sitting next to him.

“Der?”

Silence. He couldn’t be asleep yet, could he? That would have been just impossible. Besides, it would be fucking unfair. He leaned in closer to take a look, and actually caught a rare sighting: a seemingly asleep Derek Hale. His first instinct was to take his cellphone and snap a picture of it, the second was to lay on top of the older man and bury his face on the crook of his neck. 

“Der, I know you’re not asleep.”

Derek turned around and pushed Stiles on the bed, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Stiles rolled his eyes and they stared at each other. The older man was pissed, that was obvious as day, but he didn’t know what he was supposed to do. So he just whispered, brushing his fingers over his partner’s cheek. “Sorry, Der.” 

“It’s okay.” And then he pulled Stiles closer, only to push him off a few seconds after. “Go take a shower. You stink.” 

Stiles sighed and rolled his eyes, chuckling as he got up. “Wanna join me?” He teased, wiggling his eyebrows.

Derek huffed a laugh and threw a pillow at him, missing for a big chunk. When the younger man entered the bathroom – leaving the door open because he fucking could – he felt like a weight had been lifted of his shoulders. He wouldn't have been able to sleep if Derek was still angry. Because he cared too much about that dumbass and the thought of going to bed mad at him threw Stiles off-kilter. He dumped his clothes on the ground and entered the shower, relishing on the warm water against his skin. He closed his eyes and just relaxed, for a long while just letting his mind shut down and his whole body unwind. Suddenly, Stiles felt heat plastered to his back, and smiled when two hands settled on his waist, Derek’s mouth going for the curve of his neck. 

“I thought you were going to sleep.” 

Derek mumbled something and continued kissing his neck, slowly and gently. The touch on his waist slipped dangerously near his previously soft dick, which was now getting more interested in its surroundings. The older man moved closer and pressed their bodies together, continuing to kiss and suck on his skin. Stiles let his hands cover Derek’s and sighted, relaxing against his partner. Not long after that a strong hand started to jerk him off slowly, and he moaned, thrusting against the older man and letting his head fall back. 

He couldn’t bring himself to focus on anything, from keeping his mouth shut to actually managing to do anything to make Derek feel good too. He continued moaning as Derek kept jerking him off, and god, how did that fucker managed to be so good at this. Stiles ended up coming rather quickly, maybe because of how tipsy he still was or maybe because yeah, Derek Hale was so fucking sexy and he made Stiles want to come over and over again. 

And that left him panting there, leaning practically all his weight against Derek. He would happily have gone to bed that moment, if he hadn’t felt the hard dick against his ass. For a moment or two he considered just letting Derek hump him, but that sounded just so fucking unfair - like, he got a phenomenal hand job during and Derek would have to do all the work on his part of the deal as well? Not fucking fair. 

So he turned around, gave a peck on his partner’s lips, and pushed him against the tile wall – he turned off the water too because it would be a waste of good hot water otherwise and they could make do with only the steam. Stiles kneeled on the ground – taking extra care not to slide over and faceplant on the floor (that would be ridiculous) – and licked his lips while glancing up. He rubbed his cheek against Derek’s hard cock, just because he knew how much the other man liked when Stiles showed how much he loved that part of him (Stiles really did, Chuck knew how many times he had screamed because of that dick), then licked it and kissed the tip before sucking just the head. Derek threw his head back and moaned through his clenched teeth. 

Stiles smirked around it, and flickered his tongue a bit just to make Derek let out some more noises. Slowly, he sank his mouth until Derek’s cock was covered by it – well, all he could take in, which considering Stiles gag reflex, wasn’t much –, taking the rest on a hand. Slowly, he went up and down, licking and sucking as he knew Der liked best. Soon enough there were hands fisting his hair and pulling him closer. Derek didn’t force him, didn’t push too hard – he never did. Stiles looked up, to how beautiful was that face when not frowning or worrying. Derek's eyes closed and his mouth opened, whispering things like how good Stiles’ mouth was around his cock, how amazing he looked on his knees. 

Stiles hollowed his cheeks then, sucking more. That made Derek groan louder and pull him just a bit, rocking his hips on reflex. Stiles grinned – or the closest you can get to it with a cock in your mouth – and moved back until only the tip of his lips was on the head of the older man’s cock. He kissed it before going back trying to put a little more inside his mouth this time, letting Derek thrust in and out, relaxing his jaw to keep himself calm. 

He felt Derek tensing up and prepared himself, and it didn't take long fir a sharper thrust that had his eyes watering. He leaned back a bit so he could breath, and well, spit (he was not a swallower, definitely). It took a while before he caught his breath, and by then Derek had recovered himself enough - even if he still had that unfocused look and uneven breath combo going on. Stiles couldn't help but to smile.

“Are you gonna help me up, or are we going to sleep here, big guy?” 

-M- 

Jackson was going to slowly murder all those fucking Stilinskis. 

They were all watching their humiliation from the windows. All of them just couldn’t contain a laugh at the four Hale kids that had run out the door, desperate because of the fire alarm (by the way, why in the hell would a house have a fire alarm like that?). Jackson had been in the middle of a shower, so he'd ran out naked and was now on the cold. Naked. Erica was in her clothing already, but her hair was a mess, Cora and Isaac were in their pajamas looking like someone had kicked them out of the bed in the middle of the night.

The worst? Their dad had ran out too, wearing only his jeans and looking scared at first. Right now though he looked down right pissed. And that’s when Jackson got what had been the real reason behind this shit (even if Danny and Allison probably took a secret pleasure on seeing him humiliated), they knew Stiles wouldn’t resist a good prank and that Derek would never let his children without protection. 

Actually, at the very moment, the man was hoisting Cora on his arms, holding Isaac’s hand, saying that it would be alright and that they had done the right thing. Jackson walked past them, furious and stomped straight upstairs. Crossing paths with Kira and Allison, and whispered to them.

“Next one is on us. And don’t enjoy this too much.”

The girls smiled, teasing him, and just walked down the stairs. He should have been self-conscious, as he was fucking naked, but he couldn’t give less of a fuck of anyone seeing his perfect body. They should thank him for having right to such a view, in truth. When he entered the bathroom, Danny was there shaving and smirked looking at the blond boy. Jackson rolled his eyes and got in the shower at once. 

“I’m getting back at you, you know that, right?”

“What're you gonna do? Whine till it kills me?”

“I might.” Jackson smirked turning on the water once more.

-Y- 

Kira had to admit Jackson was hella smart. 

She and Ally had gotten in trouble in the end, since dad had needed to prove to Derek that he was against this kind of pranks and they ended up grounded for the weekend. The blond boy, on the other hand, had planned everything so he wouldn’t take the collateral damage. 

He was using the babies. 

Which was the sort of thing Kira would never do, because she knew the kids shouldn’t be dragged into this mess too – she wasn’t even sure if they were doing the right thing, to be honest. Anyway, she was now sitting on the stairs, sighing and watching whilst Cora and the twins drew all over the walls they had painted. 

Ally was upstairs doing some history homework, and Jackson and Danny had left to Jungle – Kira was pretty sure she would end up in trouble for not stopping the young ones, but right now she was rather fascinated by Cora ordering the boys to draw _demon alpha wolves _and_ banshees_ and other creepy stuff. How could a kid that young be so damn creepy? Isaac and Erica were weird as well, but they didn’t even come close to their younger sister. 

“Kira, what do you want to be?” Cora asked smiling.

“I dunno, a kitsune maybe?” She answered, smiling. The other girl frowned and tilted her head to the side.

“What’s a kitsune?”

Kira couldn't just ignore the cute pout, so she got up and stood by the girl's side. “A Kitsune is a fox-spirit from Japan, a trickster spirit that sometimes takes the form of a beautiful woman.” Stiles used to read stories to her, different from everyone in the orphanage that tried to deny her heritage. Heather had even bought her a huge mythology book when they'd decided that they were gonna bring her home. 

“Are you a Kitsune?” The little girl asked, eyes widening in fascination. 

The teenager couldn’t contain the laugh that came so easily, so she patted Cora’s head and said, still with a grin on her lips. “I could be, but if I told…”

The two boys stepped in to finish the sentence for her. “We’d have to kill you.”

It was by then she heard the sound of the jeep parking, her dad and Derek had come back from whatever they had been doing (something to do with the house, according to Pops). Kira ran towards the kitchen and opened up the fridge, trying to pretend she was looking for something to eat. This was gonna be bad… When the front door opened and she heard footsteps coming in, it took all of her self-control not to look back. 

“What are doing?” There was anger in Derek’s voice. 

“Well, we wanted to make the house pretty, Dad.” Cora answered, and Kira felt bad for the trouble in which they'd put the girl.

“You can’t do things like that, Cora. It makes the house look messy and no one wants a messy house.”

 _Oh my Chuck_ , Kira had to look now. Because no way in hell her father wouldn’t be upset about that comment. If Stiles had one rule, it was that homes were not supposed to be kept tidy and perfect, they were supposed to be organic. 

“Actually, Derek, I don’t think we should care about this. Like, their drawings are quite awesome.”

Kira continued watching as Derek quirked his eyebrows up, obviously not expecting that reaction from Stiles. They were so gonna fight and shout at each other. Her father turned to face her and said, trying (and failing) to pretend there was nothing happening.

“Kira, do you mind taking Cora and the boys outside to play? I need to discuss something with Derek, alone.”

She nodded and picked Cora up, carrying her outside, being followed by Aiden and Ethan. She had never seen Stiles fight with anyone that wasn’t Lydia, and even then it had only been arguments over stupid work things. This probably wasn’t serious, it couldn’t be serious. Then, she remembered they _were_ trying to get Derek and Stiles to split up, so it would have to be serious. Cora was looking down, pouting, when Kira put her back on the ground.

“I don’t want them to fight because of me.” 

Kira caressed her hair and forced herself to smile. “It’s not because of you, they’re just not right for each other.”

She repeated that, hoping the words would make more sense now.

-O-

Allison wondered what the heck was wrong with those two. 

She'd been upstairs when they had started screaming at each other, and it took all of her self-control not to drop downstairs and eavesdrop their argument. Instead, she tried to continue doing her homework. This history project was so freaking boring, though, that it was not really her fault if somewhere along the way she got distracted by their argument. 

The only problem was when at some point she heard the sound of something hitting another something and she got worried. They couldn’t get violent, that would be terrible, she'd never meant for anyone to get hurt. Allison got up and ran downstairs, only to find something she couldn’t believe was happening: her dad pressed against the wall by Derek, and the two of them making out like two horny teenagers. It didn’t take long for her to realize that, not only they hadn’t noticed her, they would keep going. And no, thanks, she didn’t want to watch her dad having sex. Instead, she walked out to the backyard to sit next to Kira. 

“Something happened?” Her sister asked looking up a bit uneasy. “They did what they were supposed to.” She pointed to the kids, which only made Ally feel more frustrated and even somewhat guilty. 

“Yes, they did. But dad and Derek are fond of angry sex for what it seems.” She forced a smile, whilst Kira blushed. In that moment, of course, their father started getting really loud. Like real fucking loud asking for ‘Chuck in Heaven, Derek…. Please, please…’ and Allison was pretty sure that Cora looking confused at them was not a good thing. The older Stilinski kid picked her cellphone and put on some random music (any would do, really) as loud as it would go. Because the kids didn’t need to be scarred for life, thank you very much. 

Her sister nudged her side and smiled. “Let’s go play with them.” 

“Hum?”

“Come on, Ally, it’s been forever since we played tag.”

Allison rolled her eyes and pushed her sister. “You’re it!” She shouted laughing before running off, Cora and the twins giggled and started running too. Kira looked outraged for a couple of moments before running off after them. It really had been forever since she'd played tag, since she played anything for the sake of playing. Eventually, Scott and Isaac arrived and joined them promptly. Erica too, even if she tried to pretend she had only joined because of Isaac's insistence, and she was more competitive than any of them could ever dream of being. Jackson and Danny joined much later, with the excuse this would help them train for Lacrosse. 

It was already dark when their Grandpa showed up by the doorstep and told everyone to get inside for dinner. When she did enter, laughing and sweating, Stiles and Derek were in the kitchen, her dad wearing only a plaid shirt and boxers, and Derek in his sweatpants. They were talking, quiet and calm, like no shit had happened at all. She was almost offended, because they had worked hard on their plan. However, Allison did feel some satisfaction when she walked by to Jackson and whispered.

“Your great plan didn’t work out so well in the end, did it?” 

His face was the best thing ever. 

-M-

Cora woke up in the middle of the night at the sound of someone crying. She was scared at first, because she thought there was something wrong going on, like a ghost or a monster, but when her eyes got used to the darkness she saw the twins sitting on Ethan’s bed. They were the ones crying, she was sure of it. The girl held Sourwolf closer to her chest and whispered. 

“Are you guys okay?”

“Yeah. A nightmare… nothing to worry about.”

Only that in Cora’s world there _was_ everything to worry about. Nightmares were really scary, even Erica had them and ended up going to dad’s bedroom sometimes. Even Dad had them. So Cora knew what to do - she got out of bed and walked over to them.

“We should go tell Dad and Stiles.”

“No!” Ethan said, so fast and so blunt that the girl startled. “We don’t want Stiles’ help.”

Cora usually would let them be, because if they were too stubborn to listen to her, then it was their problem. However, Danny had explained to her that sometimes when people are like that it’s because they’re afraid, and boys like Aiden and Jackson needed someone to take control in times like these. Cora could take control - it couldn’t be that hard, grown-ups did it all the time. She grabbed Aiden’s hand, still holding her stuffed wolf against her chest, and said, trying to be a grown up like Aunt Laura or Dad. 

“We are gonna go there.” 

The boys looked like they wanted to argue, but she didn’t give them the room. Cora pulled Aiden up and Ethan followed, then they walked down the hall in the dark (she had never been afraid of the dark, because wolves could see better in the dark than humans, and Sourwolf would protect her and growl if there was something in the shadows). The girl opened the door, and told the boys to wait as she went to wake their parents up. She walked over, to the side where her dad always slept, and he was there with Stiles snoring lazily over his chest. She smiled, because Stiles was drooling and her dad actually looked all calm and cute. For a second she searched for the pic of her mom, that was always on dad’s night table to smile at her and whisper something. But there was no picture anymore, and her smile faded a bit. She pulled her father’s sleeve a couple of times, whispering.

“Daddy. Daddy, come on, wake up.” 

He eventually opened his eyes, and gently pushed Stiles aside. The other man didn’t wake up, though he did say something in his sleep that Cora couldn’t quite catch, but seemed to make her dad uncomfortable so she didn't really wanna know. 

“What was it, honey?” He asked, running his fingers through her hair and sounding worried.

“The twins had a nightmare.” She informed, firm as she could. 

Her father nodded and got up, trying really hard not to make any noise. He held her hand and walked over to the door, Aiden and Ethan looked at him a bit surprised. Cora smiled, because Dad rocked and he was going to make everyone okay. The boys seemed uncomfortable, but her dad only sighed and crouched next to them. They all stood in silence for a few moments.

“Okay. You don’t have to tell me what your nightmare was about if you don't want to, but it would help me protect you.”

Aiden and Ethan exchanged glances before moving closer to him and whispering something she couldn’t hear. It was okay, though, since she was pretty sure it didn’t matter. Her dad nodded and ran his fingers through their hair. 

“Let’s go to your room, I’ll stay there with you.” 

-Y- 

Derek left the base a bit later than he usually did, having had so many files to fill and Peter was as always away too much interested in his sex life. Derek sighed and grabbed his cellphone to text Stiles saying he was going home, but there was a text there already. Stiles was taking the kids to the movies with his dad, and would only be home really late – it was a marathon of the Star Wars movies or whatever -, but that Kira was still at home (she needed to work on a paper or something) and that Erica was at Laura’s. Derek sighed and replied he would pick up Erica and if he should wait for Stiles. The answer was no. They hadn't been fighting, but things were definitely stranded. He drove to Laura’s apartment condo, and called her. It took a while for his sister to answer the phone, but she sounded like she was laughing. 

_“Hey, Der. How are you doing, little bro?”_

“I’m fine, Laura. Erica is there with you, right?”

 _“Yep, she is. Actually, I wanted to ask something.”_ Her voice had the same devilish tone she used every damn time she had something planned out behind his back. 

“Go ahead.” Derek was already resigned that there was nothing he could do to stop his sister’s plans once they were set into motion. 

_“Can Erica sleep over? We’re having some quality time, I was even going to call Stiles’ girls over too, but Allison is still not very fond of me and Kira had other things to do.”_

He looked up to the building and sighed. “Fine, but she has school in the morning.”

_“You’re THE BEST. Love ya, Der.”_

“Love you too, Laura. Take care of Erica, okay?”

_“I will. She brought her medication.”_

“You already had all this planned out, didn’t you?”

 _“Maybe…”_ She then laughed some more, and he even forgot that he had taken the trip to her place in vain.

“Gotta go, Laura. See you around.”

_“You better call me, we need to talk, Der-bear.”_

Yes, they did, but not right now. “I will. Bye.” He hang up without preamble, because he needed a bit of time by himself, like everyone else. It was just, he worked the whole day and when he got back home he liked to be a part of the family life. He didn’t want to be one of those parents that were never there, that worked too much and didn’t get to really know their kids. However, he didn’t want to buzz in their lives unwanted. Trying not to seem all gloomy, he dropped by a local coffee shop to pick up something to eat before going back home, and Miss Mccall was there at the end of the queue. 

“Oh, good to see you.” She smiled and he was compelled to do the same, even if he wasn’t in a great mood. “How are things going with you and Stiles?”

“Fine, I mean, as fine as they can be with eleven kids.” The woman next to them in the line looked surprised at Derek, but he didn’t bother to give his usual glare towards her. 

“Well, I guess you guys are doing a great job with them, if Isaac and Scott are anything to go by.” 

It was good to hear someone saying that, especially when they fought so much over the little things about raising children. It seemed like everything one of them did, the other hated and didn’t want anything like that near the kids. Nothing was simple with them, whatever they could do to complicate the situation they ended up doing. The barista called his name and Derek had to go, but before he actually managed to leave, the teacher touched his arm and said with a motherly smile. 

“I’m really glad you and Stiles talked your things through, I know it’s hard to forgive sometimes, but that’s what we gotta do.”

He didn’t smile back, just nodded and walked away. Because, in truth, he didn’t even know if he had forgiven Stiles for what had happened. God, why did he even listen to Laura? Why he couldn’t take the words she had said days ago out of his mind. That if they'd broken up once was because there was something wrong, and they hadn’t worked it out, that this was too romantic comedy to be real. Derek drove back home, trying as hard as possible just to take his mind off this. He was tired and frustrated and no relationship was perfect and some were harder than others.

By the time he got home, though, his situation had not improved. 

Ironically enough, when he was about to open the front door, he heard someone playing the guitar and frowned in surprise, being really quiet as he opened the front door. The music stopped soon, and he heard Kira shouting.

“Fucking hell!” 

He left the package from the café on the table, and followed the sound. How long had it been since he last heard a guitar been played live? He had once thought about being a musician, but had let that go when he started living with Paige. He'd given up so she wouldn’t, and even when they were already settled and stable he never again touched a guitar. Peter said that he was probably just afraid of regretting all he did. Actually, he just never got the chance afterwards, not with four kids and a job and everything. Music stayed behind. Now he stood by the door of the girls' room, heard the dark-haired girl trying again, and once more failing in the song. Usually, Derek would’ve let this go and forgotten, because well, none of Stiles’ kids seemed to enjoy his company. However, for some reason, he knocked twice.

“Oh, come in, I guess.”

He entered to find Kira standing there with a plugged guitar (that obviously had seen much better days) on her hands and messy hair. Her eyes wide and looking like someone who had just been caught doing something very wrong.

“I’m sorry. I’ll keep it down-” She started saying, already fidgeting. 

Derek only smirked and said, enjoying this a little. “You should try letting your nails grow, or your fingers will hurt more than they should.”

The teenager seemed dazzled, then beamed a smile and asked. “Do you play?”

“Haven’t for a long time.” 

“Do you wanna?” She asked, offering the guitar to him. 

And, surprising them both, he smiled and picked it up.

-O- 

Stiles woke up around ten, alone in the bed. He rolled over to Derek’s side, pushing his head against the pillow. How long had it been since he overslept? And the great thing was that he didn’t need to be desperate this time, his kids were at school already and he would be able to work just fine. He had to deliver some things to Lyds tomorrow, but he was practically done anyway, only had to scan the drawings and pray to the seven gods that they would remain good. Stiles ended getting up after ten minutes, and went for a bath. This was all so surreal, just being able to take a shower and relax. However, he still felt the unease tingling under his skin. After the shower, he put in his jeans and a sweater – one of the perks of working at home was that he could wear whatever he felt like - and left the bedroom. 

The kids' rooms were empty and all that silence was peaceful, but weird. They hadn’t even woken him up to say goodbye, not that he really cared about something like that, nope, not at all. It was good that they didn’t have the need to go for him every morning, that they were trusting Derek more, right? Right. When he arrived downstairs, his dad was nowhere to be seen either. Silence in a house this big was eerie, and all that came to his mind were all the horror films and serial killers – if he checked the locks in the doors and windows after that, well, no one would ever know. 

He eventually ate Poptarts with a giant mug of chocolate milk, whilst watching one of those morning shows that were completely pathetic, but still he couldn’t make himself turn off the TV. It wasn’t until almost noon that Stiles decided he had to work – he still had debts, and there was still Boyd’s college tuition to think about, along with all the tuitions he would have to pay in the future (even if Derek had promised he would help). 

He should have not gone back upstairs. 

Because when he got to his office, Stiles was faced a sight he wasn’t ready for. 

Everything was clean. 

Well, not clean, it was _void_ of every little glimpse of light and life and imagination. 

His reference books had been put in the shelves, in ALPHABETICAL ORDER. His drawing table was empty and his materials had been put god-knows-where. And his drawings? He had let them hanging last night to dry up, but of course they were nowhere to be seen. Stiles wanted to curse, to kick, to just pull out his hair and scream in general. He sat on the floor and punched one of the pillows repeatedly. Until he realized something: this- this _madness_ had Derek written all over it. 

He was the one person that always complained about the Stilinski mess, that always believed everything had it’s place. Obviously he had something to do with this, the fucker. He had the whole house to organize, and he went for Stiles’ office? The one place that NEEDED to be messy, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to work. 

Well, he couldn’t blame Derek without proof, and he was not going to wait until the other man got back from work. Stiles took a picture of the office and texted it to his partner with the words _know anything about this?_

It didn’t take long for an answer to arrive.

_The kids wanted to do something for you. And your office needed a clean up._

Stiles would commit murder. He replied to the text with so much rage that it was a surprise he didn’t break the touch screen. 

_It didn’t need a clean up._

He left the 'fuck you' implied. 

-M- 

Jackson was trying really hard not to be too pleased about other people’s misfortune, but he almost couldn’t stop laughing from watching Derek sleeping on the couch the whole week. Stiles barely talked to him. 

Danny had proven to be the biggest evil mastermind of all – even if Jackson would never ever admit it out loud. His plan had been the only one that managed to keep the lovey-dovey couple apart, even if he was pretty sure it was mostly because of the tension they all had helped build up. It was great, even if tonight he almost wished that they hadn’t been fighting. 

It was a big lacrosse game. If their school won they would be making it to the finals. He was the best player on the team, no one could take that from him, even though almost everyone on the team tried to pretend like he didn’t even exist on the field. The coach was now giving a speech and Jackson tried to ignore it, Danny was by his side whispering all the lines he knew would be said anyway - which wasn’t hard, since the guy was quoting independence day. 

“Today we celebrate our Independence Day!” 

When they left the lockers, Jackson glanced to the people and beamed an idiot smile. 

Everyone was there. 

Derek, his siblings, Stiles and his kids. His grandmother, his uncle peter and Laura. The Sheriff. Well, they were probably there for Danny, everyone loved Danny. His smile faded and he pulled the helmet down, angry as hell. 

Needless to say, he didn’t play well when he was angry. In the first time out, the Coach grabbed him by his shoulder and shouted at him. “What the fuck are you doing, Jackson?”

“I’m playing, Coach.”

“Well, guess what? You suck at it, do something or I’ll put you in the bench.” 

Jackson wanted to tell him to fuck off, but he did not say a world. He only glanced up to his family, and went back on the field. He knew that the only reason why they hadn’t lost it yet was because Danny was one hell of a goalie. The ball came to him, and that was his fucking chance. It didn't matter that no one was cheering for him, he didn’t need them. He was good like that.

Only, there was someone who was screaming his name. He heard it as he ran towards the goal, moving away from the opposite team. 

He could hear his siblings shouting his name, his aunt Laura telling him to go. He could hear Derek telling him he could do it. And Jackson knew he could. So he shot it to the goal, and watched as the goalie from the other team failed to take it. 

He looked over to the crowd, and saw Cora on his fathe- Derek’s shoulders shouting and punching the air. He even saw Allison and Kira with a poster that said ‘Jackson is the Best!’. He smiled, but come on, it was not like he didn’t know that already.

-Y- 

 

Allison was lying on the bed, reading the month's Hawkeye comic. Scott was by her side, reading the Captain Marvel one - which was adorable, having a moment like this with her baby brother. Kira was sitting at her own bed, trying to focus on training her guitar abilities. It was a good afternoon, somewhat cold, and she didn’t envy Jackson and Danny training out today. When she watched Kate Bishop picking up her bow in the edition, though, she sort of wished she could do the same. 

Well, not in this century, though. 

There were knocks on the door then, and her father entered. She frowned before sitting up. “We’re not done yet, so no discussion of the chapter.” 

“Well, actually I’m not here to talk about Hawkeye, not exactly, though there is a relation in this talk.”

Scott raised his head, and asked. “Do you want me to go out?”

“No, it’s okay.” Stiles sat down next to him and ran his fingers through her brother’s hair. “Well, unless Ally wants to have this talk in private.”

The girl frowned, then shrugged. She didn’t really mind having her siblings listening, not since they discussed tampons in a dinner two years ago. 

“Okay, so, you see, I talked to Derek” She could see this was going to be bad.

“I swear I’m trying dad, but he’s so weird.”

“No, we’re not talking about that now. Yes, I totally agree he’s hard to deal with sometimes. Actually, he spent a surprisingly long amount of time explaining to me _everything_ about Olympic Archery and how it isn’t that dangerous and actually is pretty badass. He has a friend – well, Peter has a friend – that could teach you. So, you’re gonna take a few classes with him if you don’t mind.”

Allison was completely shocked. After a few speechless moments she gave an open smile and started jumping around and shouting. She hugged her brother, and her dad, God she wanted to hug Derek. Because Derek, the fucking guy had made it happen. God, she was crying. How weird that was? This was all she'd ever wanted. She kissed her father’s cheek, crying and thanking him non-stop. This was perfect. 

Her dad smiled and messed with her hair. She knew he didn’t exactly feel comfortable with this, and that actually made it all even more awesome. Allison then got up and ran to Danny’s room, promptly jumping on him. 

“What was it, Ally?” 

“I’m doing Archery!” 

“What?” He asked, smiling. “That’s amazing!” 

Much to Allison’s surprise, a voice behind them was heard. “That’s hella rad.” The dark-haired girl looked at Erica (who was lying on the boys’ bed and reading a magazine). 

“Yeah, it is.” Allison kind of answered, dumb smile still on her face. 

“We have to celebrate.” Danny said, sounding excited, and Allison knew what that meant. She wiggled her brows at him and bit her lower lip. 

“Do you still have those fake ID’s?” 

Danny made a face that obviously translated perfectly to _bitch please_ and she smiled. They were gonna rock Jungle tonight. Because come on, this needed a celebration. She glanced over to Erica, who was looking at them in interest, and decided to take a fucking chance. 

“Can we bring Erica and Jacks along?” 

Danny looked surprised at her, but ended up shrugging. “We can find a way to sneak her in.” 

And Erica actually smiled widely, and hugged Ally so tight that it startled her. She ran her fingers in that blonde hair, and smiled some more. 

-O-

Stiles was cooking dinner with the kids. Well, he was trying to cook something whilst the kids made a food fight. Okay, not lying this time, he was teaming up with Scott and Isaac versus his Dad, Cora and the twins. He was giggling, pushing flour in the girl’s hair whilst she rubbed chocolate in his pants. Ethan had actually jumped on his back and was pouring orange juice inside his shirt. Stiles knew he shouldn’t be so happy about this, but every little thing about this moment was great. It only became more perfect when Cora was picked up and started giggling. He looked up to see Derek holding his daughter upside down and smiling. 

“Hey there.” The dark-haired man said, and Stiles wanted to be pissed at him for everything, but he couldn’t. So he whispered. “Hey, Der.” Before leaning in to kiss him – just a peck, since there was a five year-old between them, her head in level with Stiles’ knees – and rubbed his flour-smeared hand on the side of Derek’s face. 

Derek smiled at him, and put Cora down on the floor. “You guys should take a shower, and we may have to go eat out tonight.” 

“Only may?” He teased, before helping Ethan down his back. “Totally. By the way, Ally was so happy about the archery thing she couldn’t stop smiling.” 

Derek looked down, before letting a smile tug on his lips. “I knew she would like it.” 

“Now, I’ll go take a shower – there’s probably orange juice everywhere right now. Can you put the kids in the bath?” Stiles asking before starting to walk upstairs. God, he was gonna have to clean everything up later, that would be one hell of a bore. 

“Yes.” Derek answered, and the Sheriff just sighed and looked over to them. 

“You want to take the bath first, dad?” 

“No. They need it more than I do.” 

After a well deserved bath Stiles went to check on Derek, who was currently drying Cora’s hair. 

“Where are we gonna go have dinner?” He asked, looking at his little boys that were all dressed already. 

“Don’t know. We should call Allison and ask where she wants to have dinner.” 

“Not gonna happen.” 

“Why not?” Derek frowned. 

“They left to Jungle to celebrate. She was hella happy about it.” Stiles smiled, because this had been great and he hoped everything would be kind of saved. However, Derek didn’t seem pleased by this. Actually, he even put Cora on the bed and walked closer to Stiles. 

“I thought Erica had gone with them.” 

“Yeah, she did.” 

“You’re telling me that eleven-year-old Erica went to a night club?!” Stiles didn’t understand why he suddenly became so fucking mad, like that was something really bad. 

“She’s with the other girls and the boys. They are gonna be fine, it’s not like the first time this happens.” 

“You’re telling me that five kids are going to a night club? Are you trying to get Erica killed?” Derek was almost growling at him. 

“No, why the fuck you’re saying that? Don’t be so fussy.” 

The older man didn’t answer, he just pushed Stiles aside and walked downstairs, more than clearly pissed. Stiles looked at the kids, and decided to go after Derek, pissed as well by the way he acted. 

“What the fuck was that about, Derek?!” 

“You sent an epileptic eleven-year-old alone and unsupervised to a night club!” Derek shouted and pointing his finger right at Stiles' face. “You know how irresponsible is that?!” 

Stiles wasn’t sure how he could react to that. Why the fuck hadn’t anyone told him about this? He wouldn’t have let them do that. He was hurt and worried and guilty, and couldn't say a word as Derek grabbed his jacket and car keys. 

“I’m gonna go pick my children up. You can’t put them at risk like this.” 

That was the last drop, because he was not a fucking negligent father, he had raised his kids just fine. Stiles grabbed his arm while following the angry steps and shouted at him too. 

“You don’t say that. I would never put your kids at risk, if you at least had told me about Erica’s disease I wouldn’t have let her go.” How in the seven hells could shit like that never have come up, by the way? Fuck. 

“That’s not the fucking point! They are too fucking young for this shit!” 

Stiles wanted to slap him, because this was so fucking stupid. He hated every second of this argument, mostly because he knew he was fucking right. And Derek was such a stubborn asshole. Derek pulled his arm free and turned his back on Stiles. The artist followed his partner, glancing over at his dad that just made a sign for him to go. As Derek was entering the car, Stiles grabbed the door so he wouldn’t close it. 

“You can’t pick them all in only one car.” 

“Yes. I can.” 

“So I’m coming with you, my kids are there.” And he banged the door closed before walking around and sitting down on the passenger seat and crossing his arms over his chest. Pissed as fuck. Derek drove towards Jungle, neither of them saying a word. This was so fucking frustrating, he couldn’t even look at the older man. And when they parked outside of the club Stiles knew that shit was going down. The older man stumped down the path following the line, Stiles right after him, until he found the kids - at least they weren't in yet. 

“Jackson! Erica!” Derek called and they all looked at him. 

The girl looked down and Jackson stepped ahead. “I was just telling them-“ 

“Quiet, Jackson.” Stiles had never seen Derek so angry, the snap even startled him. Jackson only looked down, silent. “I don’t even know where to start! This is like the stupidest idea I have ever seen you have.” He was almost growling, but Danny wasn’t intimidated. 

“What the hell are you saying? Have you gone mad?” 

“You brought an epileptic eleven year old to a club. _I’m_ not the one mad.” 

His boy widened his eyes and stepped back, surprised. It was not his fault that Erica hadn’t told anyone about her condition, and Stiles couldn’t let Derek be a jerk to them, they were his kids. So he stepped between the two of them and shouted back to Derek’s face. 

“Calm the fuck down, Derek!” 

“Why should I?! You won’t even ground them! You’re always allowing them to do whatever the fuck they want!” 

Stiles bit his lower lip. Everyone was looking at them, and he really didn’t want to have this argument in front of strangers. It was bad enough they were having a fight as it was. 

“Let’s finish this talk at home.” 

Derek stared at him for a while, frowning before replying. 

“No. We have nothing more to talk about, Stiles. I don’t know why we thought this would work out. I can’t stay with you.” 

“What the hell?” 

“I’m going back to the house, I’m picking up my kids and we’re leaving. You can have the house. I just can’t stand this anymore.” His voice was almost broken as he spoke now, he didn’t look Stiles in the eye. 

And just like that he grabbed his kids and left them there. All Stiles could do was watch as he walked away. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooowwww, shit  
> Are you suffering and/or cursing us? I hope so  
> Stay tuned, stay tuned! The third and last chapter shall come and appease you
> 
> For crying, swearing and screaming, please drop a comment below ;)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek and Stiles were always ones for misunderstandings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, peeps  
> This is not he third and final chapter we had intended. It's just the first part that answers some questions in the air.  
> Hope that's okay for those who were asking for an update :)

Stiles was too drunk to be really sure what was going on.

His feet were too light, his head too heavy and he was pretty sure he'd be on the ground if it weren't for...

Oh, Heather.

Blinking, he made a real effort to understand what was going on. They were dancing, Stiles leaning heavily on her. The music was too loud, the smell of alcohol permeating everything, and she was laughing.

Her laugh was so pretty he couldn't avoid smiling, though something told him he shouldn't, he was sad right now.

But, you know, fuck it. Whatever it was could wait until the next morning. 

"Hey!" Heather shouted over the beat rattling their insides. "We should totally get out of here!"

"Yeah, sure!" He slurred back, already taking her hand and heading for the exit.

Stumbling to her house passed in a blurry flash, falling onto her bed followed in a similar fashion. 

From this to forgetting a condom wasn't such an impressive leap.  
.....  
Upon waking up, the first thing out of Stiles mouth was "ugh". It was also the second and third as he rolled onto his back and his eyelids proved inefficient in face of the morning sun.

Taking stock of his surroundings had to wait a few moments, but didn't take long in itself. Warm, strange bed. Light, strange walls. Pretty and not so strange girl by his side.

Oh, so he _had_ slept with Heather. It wasn't exactly a surprise, they had always kind of flirted, after all. It's just at first they were only kids, then she'd had that asshole, months long boyfriend, and then he'd had-

And then he'd had Derek. Also known as that prick that had just left him - not that they'd been ever together, as _he_ so helpfully demonstrated by vanishing in thin air, not even taking the time for a "goodbye, bro" or whatever.

And now that Stiles remembered that, he was once more so damn pissed. At himself mostly, for being so fucking _hurt_ right now. It was all only a fuck buddies arrangement and he just _had_ to go and have _feelings_ attached to it.

Which, at this very moment, meant making his headache worse. So Stiles sucked it up, taking a couple of seconds to get his bearings before getting up to retrieve clothes and what not.

Pants buckled and shoes on, Stiles turned to face Heather, who had opened her eyes at some point. He kissed her and smiled, grateful that, if nothing else, he had a great friend that wouldn't even make things awkward.  
....  
There are certain things that should be always considered when one is talking about Stiles' life. One of them is that he always manages to get himself into awkward situations.

Which now brings him here, sitting on Heather's bed, staring resolutely at the yellow walls for what feels like an eternity.

"So..." 

"Yeah."

"You sure-"

"Yes. I'm not stupid, Stiles." She sighed, fingers kneading a fluffy pillow. A rather fuzzy fluffy pillow. One he shouldn't be thinking about right now. 

It's just- hard, to actually employ words when one's future is all of a sudden fundamentally altered.

"You're pregnant, and you wanna keep it." He repeated that which had been weighting in the room for the last few minutes.

Heather didn't actually answer, not that it had been a question anyway. Just verbalization. For reasons.

"Yeah, ok."

Heather sighed again. "Ok? Ok what, Stiles? You have to actually talk to me sometime soon. Ok, you get what I mean? Ok, you are gonna do something about it? Ok, you are going to stop gaping like a fucking fish-"

"Ok ok, Heather!" He couldn't help but to interrupt, head only level enough not to shout. "Just, give me a moment to rearrange my life to fit a baby in it, ok?"

At that Heather relaxed her posture, and he hadn't exactly noticed how tense she really had been until now.

"Oh." She said finally, leaning down on the bed, Stiles shortly following her example. Both stared at the ceiling for quite some time. "Ok then."  
....

The next few days were a sometimes tense, sometimes teary affair. Telling parents their teenage offspring is generating offspring of its own can be kind of traumatic.

Stiles' dad didn't pull a gun on him, so the news delivery could be seen as a success. 

That wasn't all though, of course not. There were many things to consider, and decide, and talk about, and work through. 

They had almost one year of high school left still, when would they tell their friends? Would they both manage not to drop out? How much could they ask of their parents, as supporting as they seemed to be? Should Stiles start to work right now, where, when? Where would they live, together, apart?

So many fucking questions, and these were just some of the more practical ones. Whatever came out of it all, though, Stiles had made a decision, one he would follow through no matter what. He was going to stick by Heather, support her in all he could. They were going to have that baby and it was going to be loved and cherished and given as much as possible. He would be a dad - and oh gods, he hadn't sorted out his feelings about that yet - and there was no fucking around with that.

At the moment he and Heather were killing some time on an empty park, sitting on swings that were a bit too small, drinking orange juice and swaying with the wind.

"I think we should hook up." 

As far as opening sentences go, Stiles would admit this wasn't one of his best. Heather snorted though, that cute strangled chuckle of hers that meant he was at least still funny by her standards.

"Sure. I do have the vague idea that we've already done that, you know?" Her tummy wasn't quite showing yet, but she patted it all the same.

"Yeah, I guess I know what you mean. But we should do that again. And then we should get married."

A moment of silence followed, and then another snort. Maybe he should be kind of offended at that, but whatever, it really was a cute snort.

"This usually goes the other way around, doesn't it?" She finally said, smile on her voice.

"Nah, not really. But I think it would be cool, you know, being married, and stuff."

Some more silence, accompanied by the whispering leaves. Not uncomfortable, no, just quiet.

"And stuff indeed." She kind of answered his almost proposal, then extended her juice box for a toast. And toast they did.

_It'll all be okay._ he remembers thinking.  
....

After that, the world was a flurry of even more news delivery, getting a job, each of them partially moving in with each other until they could afford something theirs.

With all this moving out/in talk though, he couldn't help but to think of Derek every now and then. A much more frequent now and then than he would like to admit.

It's not like it was ever more than a fleeting thought. Wondering if he finally had a job too, if he was just chilling in college while Stiles was so damn busy all the time. Wondering if Derek thought of him too.

Because yes, he was busy, but busy with mindless work most of the time. Nevertheless, it made him feel guilty and confused and even sort of angry sometimes, so it was definitely better to just dive head first into choosing baby names and color schemes and themed onesies.

They chose Allison, green and Hawkeye, because all of the above are awesome.

He never truly stopped thinking about Derek.  
....

Light blue was suddenly such a dull color.

Derek had been staring at his dorm room's ceiling for far too long. It wasn't like he could really do anything else right now, his mind all over the place, concentration a long gone concept.

It had been almost two months and he just _couldn't_ stop thinking about Stiles.

He'd thought it would go away after some days, said to himself that it was just habit talking. Derek had just been used to seeing Stiles almost everyday, used to touching and kissing and laughing and fighting for hours about the stupidest things. But now the brat just wouldn't leave his mind.

Although Derek tried to convince himself otherwise, he was feeling guilty. Guilty for leading Stiles on when he was too young and too different for them to ever really be anything. Guilty for not saying goodbye, cliché as it was.

Another two hours went like that, frown firm in place, fingers beating restless.

Well, fuck it.

In a split second decision he didn't really want to think over, Derek jumped to his feet, got his car keys and was out of the door. Beacon Hills was some hours away, but he could make it sometime the next morning if he didn't stop to sleep.

And drive he did.   
.....

When Derek finally got to Beacon Hills, absolutely nothing happened.

Not that he had rationally expected so, mind you, but it was just- anticlimactic, one might say.

On the way over he had used the long hours to think, really think about his life without the strain of witnesses waiting for response. And he came to the conclusion that, as usual (according to Laura), he'd been an idiot.

He /liked/ Stiles. And it's not as if he didnt know that already, but the terms of their not-really-relationship had seemed so easy if he just didn't dwell on them that he just hadn't. The truth is, he wanted Stiles to be more to him than a fuck buddy (as the brat made sure to remind him all the damn time), to really be with him. 

And yes, it had been stupid to leave without saying goodbye or whatever, but he hadn't known how to do it at the time. Should he send a text, arrange one last fuck before college? It wasn't what he wanted, but he couldn't simply go there and what? Hug Stiles? That would just have been pathetic.  
And as always (thanks, Laura) he'd chickened out of choosing and did nothing. 

Anyway, its not like all this was only his fault. Stiles could have called him sometime, or just texted, or even sent one of those stupid winky faces he occasionally did with no reason.

Which brought Derek to one of the possible scenarios he could be driving into right now. He would get there, knock on Stiles door and Stiles would come, look surprised he even still existed and then send him away. That thought almost sent him back a number of times.

Then there was the possibility that he would find Stiles fucking someone else (the logistics of this one weren't really developed, but whatever). Or maybe Stiles would grin at him like he did at anyone, indifferent.

All of the above were somewhat frightening, if Derek were to admit it. Which he wouldn't.

But back to the present moment, his arrival to the city consisted in driving aimlessly for a few minutes (chicken, Laura's voice singsongs), then making a couple of laps around Stiles neighborhood, then rationally deciding it would be better to get a good night's sleep before saying things. Talking about feelings. Whatever.

 

A few minutes more and he was finally at home for the time since going to college. Not that I had been much time at all, but it felt good nonetheless. Derek didn't have his keys on him, so he pressed the bell and waited.

"Derek?" Was all his mother said once she opened the door, promptly getting him into a tight hug.

"Whoa, mom. Missing me already?"

"Shut up and hug me, Der."

They stood there for a couple moments, just into the doorway, until the smell of food got to him.

"So, where can a long missing son get some dinner around here?" Talia didn't answer, limiting her response to a slap to his shoulder, but she led him to the kitchen anyway.

A plate of pasta and half an hour of small talk later they at last got to the point he was carefully avoiding.

"Are you gonna tell me sometime soon why you decided to visit all of a sudden?" His mom said at last, and it's not like he would usually be able to bullshit this answer, but he never did get the hang of lying to her. Damn.

Derek cleared his throat to buy some time, but it would have to be said anyway. At least there wasn't anybody else in the kitchen to tease him much about it.  
"So, I- You know Stiles, Stilinski, right?"

A snort. "How could anyone in this town not know that kid, Der? But what about him?" She was now staring intently at him, face too neutral for him to get a read of it.

"Uhm, yeah, so. We had been kind of dating, before, you know. And I wanted to- to talk to him, sort things out." He was stuttering. Why was he stuttering? It's not like she didn't know he was bi, they had had that conversation years before. It didn't matter that he had never actually been with a guy other than Stiles.

"Oh." That was all she said and- was that disappointment? Derek hadn't expected that, didn't even know what to say. Should he be angry? Change subjects, or just go to his room and pretend that didn't happen?

Before he could further freak out, though, she took his hand. "Darling, you like Stiles?" Was she sad, now? What?

"Yeah, I do. What is it, mom?"

"It's just- Nothing we can't talk about tomorrow, after a good night's sleep, hum?"

 

And sleep he did, despite still being confused. It's not like he could make his mom talk when she didn't want to, anyway.

The next day came too early, as in he was up way before the sun. Too anxious to stay in bed, Derek took his car keys and went to drive aimlessly for some time. Not that it was exactly safe driving on such little sleep, but it's not like he was nodding off or anything; besides, he did need some time to think about what he would say when he saw Stiles at last.

A couple of months apart had made him reconsider some previous givings, but it was still hard to think around them. Like, he was in college, hours away - if they hadn't had a proper relationship when he was close, how could they now? And that is to say, if Stiles still (or had ever) wanted anything at all.

Derek was lost in circular thought when light blue flashed on the corner of his tired vision. It was Stiles jeep parked in The Jungle's parking lot, which he registered with mild confusion. Stiles wasn't much one for flashy night clubs after all.

Without thinking much about it, Derek parked as well and went for the entrance, having to wait a bit on the line. Once inside he began looking for Stiles, probably seeming rather lost.

Who he did find, however, was Lydia. A very drunk Lydia, judging by her almost glassy eyes (though not at all less fierce). While he internally debated asking her about Stiles or not, she spotted him instead and came in his direction in slightly unsteady steps.

"Hale." Talk about a warm welcome.

"Hey, Lyd-"

"What are you doing here?" She interrupted, her tone accusing.

Derek really didn't want to speak to anyone other than Stiles right now, but Lydia wasn't one to budge.

"I came to talk to Stiles, saw the jeep outside."

Her only response was to look angry, then take his arm and pull him towards the exit.

"Wha-"

"Shut up, Hale. Shut up and go away. You're _not_ -" She stumbled a little, not losing her grip oh him though. "You're not making Stiles sad again."

Derek stood then right next to the exit, and, while Lydia was literally pushing him away, it was not like she could actually move him.

"Lydia, stop. I just-" Was there a way to _not_ sound pathetic right now? Well, whatever, she was drunk anyway. "I just want to be with him."

At that she came to a pause, her eyes sad and fixed on him. In silence she took a gulp from the drink she still held, and when she spoke again her words were slightly slurred.

"You were too late, Sourwolf. Lil Red found his woods woman."

While a part of his mind wondered why Stiles had told her their stupid nicknames, its majority was stuck on the meaning of that sentence.

Looking around - avoiding her eyes - he did finally find Stiles on the dance floor. He had his arms around a pretty blonde girl, a water bottle in his hand and a stupid (beautiful) smile on his face.

Derek stared and stared and didn't really know how to react. The petite hand on his arm was no longer pushing, and it took him some seconds to notice she'd now laid her head on his shoulder.

"You really like him after all, don't you?"

"Yeah." Was all he could answer after clearing his throat and swallowing any other reaction.

"Damn."

Derek didn't really know how to feel, to be honest. Silly, for one. Expendable was also a word that came to mind, though he knew it to be unfair. It's not like he'd told Stiles to wait for him, or even hinted at it. Now that he couldn't avoid his thoughts, Derek had to admit this plan had been stupid from the beginning. 

Suddenly Lydia was walking back towards him - not that he'd noticed she'd gone - with two bottles on one hand and her purse on the other.

"Come on, let's get outta here. It's not like they are gone miss me." A pause. "Forget I said that, too drunk to be blamed."

Not that Derek would've commented on the self-deprecating slip, but he nodded anyway. One does not simply deny Lydia Martin.

Once out of the door, the noise and light no longer pounding on his brain, they both headed to the park one block away. It was somewhat surreal, walking in silence and arm to arm with Lydia, who he knew (more second handedly and by general high school knowledge) but had never actually talked to.

They spent a long time outside, moving gently on the swings and talking about nothing of importance. Derek later took her back to the club, and as they parted ways she kissed his cheek (too tender to fit the ice queen image). 

Foregoing his car, he decided to go home on foot. He could pick it up the next day, and he needed the time to breathe. 

The sun was up by now, and it was beautiful. Just not distracting enough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, thoughts?

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it.  
> Me and Jana are really proud of it.  
> You can find us on tumblr http://pandora-is-on-the-impala.tumblr.com/ and http://spice-and-raging-kittens.tumblr.com/ (Feel free to follow us)  
> And give us your feedback (Kudos, comments and bookmarks make us really happy!)  
> Kissus!


End file.
